The Terror
by Lona Striker
Summary: Reanna brings the rebellion to it's knees and is given the task of running the family business and caring for her new found neice. She finds she likes that life, until an accident on Couroscant makes things difficult for both her and Kade. Mira struggles in a deadly battle against her captor, Tynan. And Striker is now a very wanted by the Empire. Sequal to The Unwanted
1. Chapter 1

_Darkness was all around her. Her heart was beating furiously as she stumbled through it. She had to find her way home before it was too late to save them. _

_Things like thorns and branches began smacking up against her and tore at her flesh causing blood to start running down her body. She fell and felt thorns tear the skin on her face to shreds. But that did__ not__ stop her. She jumped up and continued to run in the direction a sliver of light began to show._

_Panic pulsed through her veins__, as she got closer.__ She could hear screams of terror and agony. The sounds of blaster fire and lightsabers also reached her ears, but her mind found nothing strange about it._

_She got closer to the light and it slowly turned into a glowing red colour. She could feel the air becoming warmer and the smell of smoke and burning material reached her nose._

_She came to the edge of a clearing and froze in horror at what she saw._

_Homes were burning, women and children were screaming as they tried to flee the village. Men were __slaughtered as they tried to defend their families and bolts from blasters were hitting the fleeing women and children causing them to fall to the ground dead._

_"Mama__?__ Mama!" A small voice grabbed at her attention. "Mama, I want you."_

_A little toddler walked up to her and held out it__s chubby arms.__ It__s brown eyes looked up into her's pleading to be picked up, she couldn't resist._

_She picked up the child and held it close. It was comforting to have something small and warm to hold close as she __surveyed__ the horrible scene before her._

_She had thought it couldn't get any worse, but then, three men wielding __lightsabers__ attacked the villagers. The last man was killed and the attackers started murdering the women and children._

_A warning came, but she had no time to act before a blaster bolt hit the child in her arms killing it instantly. A scream tore through her throat and drew the attention from one of the men wielding lightsabers._

_"You killed her!" she screamed as they stood over her. "She was your child and you still killed her! How could you? How dare you!"_

_The man said nothing as she clutched the child and sobbed into it__s soft hair.__ She felt the man's hands start to pick her up, but she thrashed around and __screamed _

_"No! Don't touch me! You MURDERED your own child! Stay away from me! Kill me like you killed your child! But never touch me again!"_

Meena woke up gasping for breath. She looked around and felt relieved when she remembered where she was. A small tent, pitched near the centre of the rebel camp on a small planet on a mission to blow up a generator. She was not in a small village where everyone was being massacred.

Noticing her thrashing about in her sleep had woken some of the people sharing the tent, Meena stood and left to get some air. She knew she wouldn't sleep. She never could after having the dream. The only time she had been able to do that was when Kade had comforted her.

A small blush crept up her thin cheeks as she remembered sleeping in the imperial commander's arms. Even though it had been months ago, she still couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed by the memory.

"Have you come out to relieve me or are you just out on a walk to get the fumes out of your system?" A humour filled voice asked from beside her.

"I'm just out on a walk right now," Meena smiled at one of her fellow rebels. "I don't think I'd be very good on watch right now, Jason."

"Did you have another nightmare?" His question startled Meena somewhat.

"What?" Her voice sounded harsh.

"Meena, almost everyone knows that you have nightmares," Jason's bright blue eyes held slight concern and his jaw was tighter than normal. "Your roommate says you have them almost every night. Is everything all right?"

"I'm fine," Meena gave a small smile. "It's just a dream. It is a little unnerving, but it will pass."

"Well, if you're sure, then," Jason's big, calloused hand gently grabbed Meena's hand. "Would you like an escort on your late night walk?"

"I thought you were on watch?"

"I'm due to go out on my rounds anyways. I might as well have some company while I do them. Now tell me, what is your favourite past time?"

Meena talked with Jason until his watch was over. All the while, she couldn't help but feel guilty at how many lies she told about herself. She did not get her sea-gray eye colour from her father, and her black hair was not from her mother. For, in reality, her eyes were really a deep blue, and her hair was supposed to be auburn. Her name was not Meena Ainslie. It was Reanna Senona Starfield. She was not an ex-prostitute; she was a spy with only one purpose in the rebellion.

"Night, Jason." She waved as she re-entered her tent. She hated deceiving everyone here into thinking she was truly fighting for their cause, when in reality, she was there to bring it down to the ground.

Meena, or Reanna, went to her bedroll and just laid there not expecting to fall asleep, but eventually, her eyelids fell closed and she slept.

The next morning, everyone was in a buzz of excitement. It was the first mission most of the rebels there had been assigned and they were anxious to see some action.

Meena herself would not be joining the front lines for her health was somewhat more delicate from an experience from months before. But she was kind of glad for that. She had seen imperials train and they were very good at combat. If the base wasn't taken quickly, a lot of people would die that day.

"How are you feeling this morning?" Jason looked refreshed and ready for anything.

"A little tense, but that is to be expected on my first official mission," Meena hugged herself. "And cold. Is it always this frigid on missions?"

"Not unless you are assigned to meet a contact or something like that," Jason rubbed his hands together trying to generate warmth to them. "You get a hotel if you are doing something like that. It gives a safe place for meetings and makes it all less conspicuous."

"How?"

"The contact has the room adjoining yours," Jason explained. "You can go back and forth without anyone noticing and pass the information along. It's actually quite fun once you've done it a few times."

"Are you boring our new recruit to death before she sees any action?" Lindy came up and joined the two. "Sure sounded like it with the way you were talking about one of the most boring jobs in the rebellion."

"It's not boring!" Jason argued. "It's fun going under the noses of imperials and handing off information we are not supposed to have. And it gives you a chance to appreciate how nice an actually comfortable bed is."

"Yeah, whatever," Lindy shrugged and turned to Meena. "General Adam says we're almost ready to move in. You should probably go get into position."

Meena nodded and went to follow her orders, leaving Jason and Lindy by themselves.

"So?" Lindy asked her companion expectantly.

"What?"

"What do you think about the new recruit?"

"She's a little strange."

"Strange? How so?"

"Have you seen the familiar way she handles her weapons?" Jason wanted to know.

"She could have had some training before she came."

"No," Jason shook his head at the suggestion. "I looked up her records. She was in very high demand up until she left. I doubt she would've had the energy to train with weapons. And there would be no time in between her leaving her planet and coming here for any sort of that." Jason let it sink into Lindy's brain. "Also, her manner. I've known quite a few ex-prostitutes and she doesn't act in any manner like they do."

"What are you saying?"

"I don't know. I just think we need to watch her closely."

Like Meena/Reanna, in another part of the galaxy one of her closest friends was also being watched closely. She lay in a dreary cell bruised and very battered. She was young, barely eighteen, and well built. Her bleached, blond hair was cut short to her shoulders, and right half of her oval-shaped face was covered with small metal scales. Only her left hazel brown eye was visible as a golden eye patch hid the right. She felt ill from all the drugs that had been injected into her system during another torture session and her one eye refused to focus.

She let out a loud groan as the lights in her cell brightened and her eye was momentarily blinded. The door slid open and when she could finally see again, she was dismayed to see it was her captor.

He was of average height, but very well built. His jet-black hair was slicked back, his lean face was in a mask of neutrality, and his grey eyes reflected his neutrality, but also reflected how dangerous he was.

"What do you want?" She snapped and stood up, trying not to hiss at the pain.

"To talk," his smooth, rich voice irritated her slightly. "There is no reason to stand, Mira. Have a seat."

"I'm fine standing." Mira said her voice daring him to challenge her.

The man simply sat down cross-legged on the floor and lifted his hand.

"I really must insist that you sit," Mira felt her legs swept out from under her and fell to the floor in a sitting position. She tried to stand up, but found herself restrained by an invisible force. She scowled at the man sitting across from her and tried to fight whatever he was using to hold her down. "The more you struggle, the tighter I'm going to make the restraint," the man warned in a quiet voice. Mira didn't really see any other option, so she stopped struggling and instantly felt the restraint become looser. "That's better. Now, why is Princess Miranda Skyglyder in this part of the galaxy, bounty-hunting, and going by another name, instead of on Orlo doing her duties?"

"That is _none_ of your business!" Mira was suddenly tense at the mention of her true name. "Besides, my name was legally changed to Mira Sunburner and I am of the legal age to be on my own without permission!"

"Fine," the man nodded and decided to leave the subject. "Tell me about your companion, Striker. And insight as to why she was so adamant she wanted to murder the emperor."

"No clue," Mira shrugged. "We may have been partners, but we didn't go nosing into each others business. Now let me ask you a question. Why are you keeping me prisoner on your ship when you do not have clearance to do so?"

Mira knew she had made a mistake as she felt her throat tightening. He must not have heard about her escape three days ago and that they had found her in the archive room looking through her own file. A handy piece of knowledge to have when you are the commander of a giant warship.

"Why do you think I have no clearance?" On the outside, he was completely calm and relaxed, but by the tight, invisible grip on her throat, he was truly angry. "For all you know, I could be transporting you to Couroscant for your trail right now."

Mira was beginning to feel light-headed from the sudden lack of air and was very aware of a presence in her mind shifting through her recent memories. Her gaze was riveted on the man's face as a small grin tugged at the corners of his mouth. Then, suddenly, the grip on her throat was gone and she was able to breathe again.

"Thank-you kindly for the information on how you escaped," there was no missing the smugness in his voice. "I assure you, that aspect of your security will not be overlooked again."

Mira didn't know how long it was before he finally left, but when he did, she felt angrier than she had ever been before. The man would ask her questions and if she did not want to answer it, he went and searched through her mind to find an answer. By the end, she was sure she knew more about her than many of her friends did.

The thought of someone being able to see what was in her mind was disturbing, even more so when it was a man looking through your mind and a man who was keeping you prisoner at that.

_I'll just have to escape._ She thought to herself hoping that a certain person wasn't listening. _And hope that the _Starlight_ won't be too battered up._

Over the next few weeks, Mira pulled escape attempt after escape attempt trying to get free from the lunatic she that had taken her prisoner. And each time, she was caught and punished severely for her actions. After which, the man Tynan, she learned his name was, would come in and search her mind to find out how she had gotten out again.

After a while, though, Tynan grew annoyed and decided to handle Mira's next torture session.

It was agony beyond compare. Mira had believed she was in great pain when she lost half of her face to a vibroblade. But this was much worse.

Mira could usually bounce back enough to escape the next day, but after this, she could barely even speak for the next week the pain was so bad. However, this would be the least of her worries after she became strong again.

Mira was just able to stand again when Tynan came carrying a small box. Her nerves instantly went haywire in fear of what might be in the box, but she forced her fear down and ignored Tynan.

"So, you've been almost everywhere on my ship now," Mira tried hard not to look up at the sound of his voice. "And you have experienced a little of what I do to people who disobey me."

"I didn't exactly disobey you," Mira could not keep her tongue still. "You never said anything about me not being allowed to escape."

Mira bit her lip as Tynan backhanded her across the face. He was obviously not used to people talking back or doing anything that would push his buttons.

"I can't have you running all over the ship the way you are always doing," Mira heard him start fiddling with the box and curiously watched as he opened it. "So, I'm afraid you will be wearing this for the duration of your stay."

To Mira's horror, he drew out a jewelled collar. The collar was made from gold, as far as Mira could tell, and was studded with many jewels of blue, green, red, and white. It looked like it was in half, only held together by gold coloured cords, but Mira knew that the collar had be specifically designed to look that way to fool it's victims into thinking it would be easy to get off.

Mira couldn't help but feel cold as she remembered her trainer's words on it. _"It looks beautiful and harmless, but once it is on, you won't ever be able to get it off again."_

The cords were made from strong steel and would pull tight, once the collar was around their victim's neck, until the seams were no longer visible. On the inside of the collar, a series of little wires that would send a shock strong enough to kill through the victims body if they were ever cut. Along with the little chip that would send a smaller shock through the body if the person went out of their boundaries. In short, once it was on, it was as good as a part of your body.

"I see you recognize what this is," Tynan's voice was strangely amused. "I shouldn't be surprised though. You seem to be knowledgeable on many subjects."

"I'm not wearing that!" Mira backed up and found herself against the wall. _Of course, I back into a wall! _Mira thought angrily to herself._ I couldn't back into the door like a sensible person would! _"That collar is only meant for slaves. I'm not a slave!"

"That may be the case," Tynan took a step towards Mira. "But I have a suspicion that you would be able to get around anything else I would use. Now hold still or this is going to go on funny."

Tynan suddenly launched himself at Mira with a speed such as she had never seen before, and soon had her in a bone-crushing grip.

Mira tried to fight, but her arms were pinned securely behind her back and Tynan was using the Force to keep her from moving. She felt the weight of the collar settle on her neck, pull tight, and then it was over. All in a matter of seconds.

"There, that wasn't so hard was it?" Tynan's taunting voice said right beside her ear. "Your boundaries are set around the perimeter of the cell. I highly suggest you stay put."

The door closed behind Tynan and Mira was left alone. Any chance of escape she might've had, was gone and she was now forever branded as a slave.

"No! Not forever!" Mira promised herself. "I will find a way and get this horrid thing off!"

(^)

Lona Starrider sat by a still pond watching the sun set. She had no idea how long it had been since she and, her companion, Gence had been there, but she felt as if it had been too long. Who knows what the galaxy had become since she had tried to murder the Emperor? Was it any better or was it worse than it had been before?

Lona didn't know, and she wouldn't know for quite a while longer with the rate her ribs and leg were healing, and how long Gence was taking to respond to his medical treatments. He hadn't woken up since the crash and everyone was becoming doubtful that he would. His injuries were much more extensive than hers, and he had been ill for years before.

All of this, because Lona had made the stupid mistake of giving into her anger when she had learned the Emperor was responsible for her mother's death. If Lona had gone with the plan and let Gence assassinate the Emperor, she would still be known as Striker the bounty-hunter instead of Striker the fugitive.

"Loma sad?" Lona's little friend Jade asked as she sat down beside the bounty-hunter.

"Yes," Lona smiled at the toddler's mispronunciation of her name. "I'm a little sad."

"Why?"

"I did a few things I shouldn't have and bad things happened because of it," Jade hugged Lona in what she thought was a comforting way. "Does Edna know you're out here?"

The small redhead giggled and shook her head. Then, she stood up and started running off in the direction of the forest. Lona couldn't help but laugh as she chased Jade. The little girl was always trying to evade her caretaker and seemed to think Lona would back her up on the opinion.

"Caught you!" Lona scooped up the screeching toddler and started back towards the main building. "Jade, you know you aren't supposed to run away from Edna. She worries every time you do."

"Edna's mean!" Jade started struggling. "She won't let me play!"

"Oh, thank goodness you found her!" Edna came down the stairs in a hurry.

"She was trying to wonder off again."

"I'm not talking about Jade," Edna took Jade from Lona. "Your brother took a turn for the worse this morning. There's nothing we can do anymore."

"There has to be something you can do!" Lona felt as if she had been kicked in the gut. "Gence can't die! I made a promise to his cousin I wouldn't let him! You must be mistaken!"

"I'm afraid not," Edna shook her head. "The antidote didn't work and his injuries are far to extensive. The only thing we can do now is wait."

"Mira is going to kill me," Lona sank to the ground and buried her face in her hands. "If I hadn't been so stupid, Gence wouldn't have been so angry and wouldn't have stopped paying attention to where we were going."

"Lona," there was a very soft note in Edna's voice. "If you would like to say your last good-bys, I'm afraid you'll have to hurry."

It had been hours since Gence had become aware of sounds around him. At first he couldn't figure out what had happened to him, but slowly his memories returned and he was able to remember the crash perfectly.

He and Striker had been fighting, he forgot to control the ship and they had been caught in the gravity field. They had strapped in, but he must have missed a step or something, because the last thing he remember was the impact and himself being thrown forward onto the console.

Then the question as to where he was needed to be answered, his eyelids felt as if they had been sealed shut, so he didn't bother to try and open them. He just listened to the sounds around him and figured out he must be in a medical ward of some kind.

There it was again. That insane hissing sound and then the sound of someone breathing. Gence wasn't typically one to notice these things, but not feeling like opening your eyes makes you rely on your hearing. And this breathing was hitched, as if the person was crying.

Curious, as to who would come in crying, Gence tried forcing his eyes open and was a little surprised at what he saw.

A young girl, sixteen at the most, was standing by the door. Her completely black hair was pulled back from her face in a loose ponytail, her chiselled, narrow face had a melancholy look to it, her pale, thin lips were pressed firmly together to keep them from trembling. The only thing Gence could recognize about her, were the vibrant green eyes, with their long dark lashes.

"Striker?" His voice sounded scratchy and hoarse even to his own ears.

"Gence?" Her melancholy expression changed to one of utter shock and surprise and her hands flew up to cover her face. "What are you doing awake?"

"How old are you?" There was an obvious slump in Strikers shoulders when he asked the question.

"I have to get the doctors," Striker turned to go, then called back over her shoulder. "And call me Lona instead of Striker. I don't know if anyone here watches the holonews reports or not, so I got us in as brother and sister."

The door closed behind Striker and Gence was left speechless. Striker, one of the most known bounty-hunters in all the galaxy, was a teenager?

Gence was awake? How? He was supposed to be dying! How could a mostly dead person in a comma, suddenly wake up like that? Lona didn't know, and she was going to find out.

Lona grabbed the first doctor she found and asked how that was possible. This doctor, in turn, took her to one of the doctors that had been treating Gence and asked them. The other doctor looked confused as to the question and took Lona back to Gence's room to see for herself and nearly fainted when she saw Gence awake and talking.

"This isn't possible!" She exclaimed as she started checking the equipment. "He was supposed to be dead a few minutes ago! How can he be stable now?"

"Wait what?" Gence was completely confused as to why everyone was so shocked that he was alive. "Str-"

"Gence how do you feel?" Lona didn't let Gence talk knowing he was about to use her alias name.

"Like I just crashed my ship and flew forward instead of staying buckled in," Gence's weak voice was sarcastic. "Oh, wait! I think that might've been what actually happened."

"Gence-"

"Miss. Starrider, I think it would be best if you left right now," the doctor motioned towards the door. "We weren't expecting him to wake up like this or for him to stabilize. We need to do some tests."

"Of course." Lona left the room and got out of the medical centre as fast as she could with a leg brace. _Oh, I'm going to have some explaining to do. Big time!_

(^)

Master Kade, commander of the Imperial fleet, stood watching everyone on the bridge of his ship, _Conqueror,_ went about their duties in a flurry of action. They had located a rebel base only a few hours ago and were quickly approaching their destination. The fighters were ready to launch and do their job of bombing the base and all the ground force were in their shuttles ready to start raiding the base.

The only thing they were waiting for was the _Conqueror_, and the three other battleships, to come out of hyperspace and Kade to give the signal.

"Arriving at destination, sir." Admiral Sor'ini informed him.

Kade nodded and left the bridge to get to his own shuttle. They would have to be quick if they wanted to be sure that no rebel got away. Now that he was able to interrogate rebels without the worry of them suddenly having seizures and dying on him, he made sure to get the maximum amount of prisoners he could.

From the amount of presences he sensed down there, he had found one of the main bases and at a time when most teams were in-between missions and resting up for the next. Perfect.

"We have come out of hyperspace, sir." Admiral Sor'ini's voice came over the transmitter.

Kade gave the signal and his forces attacked. The battle was short, but fierce. The rebels had been caught off guard, but they still fought with aggression and courage rarely found. However, Kade didn't want a bunch of aggressive and courageous rebels if they got themselves killed in the attempt of defending their base. And more than half the rebels did just that.

Afterwards, Kade and his troops started searching the base for any rebels that might of tried to hide in the barracks. As he stepped into one of the first sets of quarters, he couldn't help but feel as if there was something familiar about them. Then he went into one of the bedrooms to find a huge mess, then went to the other and understood why.

In contrast with the first bedroom, the bed was neatly made and the floor was spotless. It was the dressing table that really caught his attention. Tools from his ship were scattered all around an unfinished project and a familiar comlink sat beside them. The comlink he had given to Reanna, just before she left to go undercover, as a way for her to keep in contact with him without being detected.

He quickly picked it up and left thinking about how ironic it was that he had found the base so soon after she had gone there.

_I just hope she'll have the sense to contact me when she hears about what happened._ Kade thought to himself as he started going throughout the rest of the base. _Otherwise, we'll have some serious problems._

"Sir, we have just received word that the rebels have attacked and captured the garrison on Tangrene," A troop informed him. "Shall we send one of the ships to retake it?"

"Yes," Kade nodded. "Send the _Starburst_. But I doubt that they'll find any rebels." _So that's where Reanna is. _Kade had been wondering about where she had gone._ Lucky thing to. It would be kind of hard to get you off my ship and make it look like a real escape to Madam._

The Force screamed a warning and Kade ducked just in time to dodge a vibroblade that would've taken his head off if he hadn't moved. Kade grabbed his attackers arm and flipped them over his head and onto the floor in front of him. He was a little startled to see it was a woman, but his surprise was quickly replaced with contempt.

"Did you honestly think you could sneak up on me?" He asked the terrified rebel as he stood her up and twisted her arms behind her back. "In case you have never heard of me before, I am Master Kade and nothing like that escapes my attention."

The woman tried to put on a brave front, but Kade could easily sense her fear through the Force and couldn't help but smile grimly at it. Many stories were told about him. Most making him out to be a monster with no conscience or limits to how cruelly he treated his prisoners. Most of the stories weren't true. However, this woman apparently thought they were and couldn't help but feel fear at the knowledge that she was his prisoner.

"Don't worry," he said with humour in his voice. "Most people who haven't met me before make that mistake. You probably aren't the last going to make it either."

"Lieutenant," Kade called to the first one of his troops he saw. "Escort this young woman to her fellow rebels. Make sure she reaches them _safely_. And get her something to eat."

There was confusion written all over the woman's face as she was lead away and Kade knew why. Most rebels expected the worst treatment possible when they were captured, and when Kade did catch them, they were all shocked at the fact that they were treated as beings instead of a means to an end.

Kade didn't hear from Reanna until the end of the week and when he did, it was obvious she was somewhere she was not supposed to be. Her face was smeared with dirt and she was in a small cramped space Kade could only guess was a closet. The could hear crashing around in the background and the sound of drunken laughter.

"Where are you?" He didn't greet her how he normally would've.

"In a closet in a bar I was able to sneak off to," Reanna flashed him a roguish grin. "You would not believe how some of the rebels act after they've had more than a little too much to drink. Most can't even remember what they did when they wake up. It can be really funny when you slip some sleeping powder into someone's first drink and they wake up to extra chores even though they didn't do anything more than have one drink," Reanna chuckled for a little, then cleared her throat when she noticed Kade was not sharing in her humour. "Did you find the comlink when you raided my base?"

"Yes. Why did you leave it behind like that? You were lucky no one found it and looked at who your only contact is!" Kade scolded somewhat harshly.

"I know! I thought I had it when I left, but when I went to call you, I realized I forgot to pick it up when I left the room to go meet up with my team."

"Meet me on Ondo in three weeks," Kade ordered. "We need to talk and not just via comlink."

"Kade, I'm on the watch list for the next month! I can't possibly go to Ondo without causing suspicion! I have some leave time for a week after the mission. I'll meet you then," there was a crash louder than any of the others had been. "I have to go. I'll see you in a month." Reanna severed the transmission before Kade could say anything more.

Kade's fist clenched tightly. Reanna was on very dangerous ground and her unwillingness to talk to him was frustrating. All their conversations, these days, were few and very brief. He suspected it had something to do with him, but he just couldn't figure out what.

The reason was simple, his eyes were becoming more yellow with each time he spoke to her.

Hey, everyone! I'm finally back! Sorry I didn't start this story sooner this month, but things have been very busy. If you have any ideas, questions, likes, or dislikes feel free to Review and tell me.


	2. Chapter 2

"Duck!" The warning came a split second late and Meena felt a searing pain in her shoulder. She spun around and fired her blaster three times before jumping behind a big pile of rubble. She glanced at her shoulder, winced, and then looked around the rubble to see if she had hit her target.

To her extreme annoyance, the person was completely unscathed and raining heavy fire on her small team and his partner was slowly making his way over to her.

Meena gripped the blaster in her hand tighter and slowly stood up. Her shoulder throbbed, but she resisted putting her hand on it hoping that they would think it had only mildly grazed her. Where was her team when she really needed them?

_This is probably the second most stupid thing I've done in my life!_ Meena thought to herself as she left her cover and started firing at where she knew the imperial with the blaster was. As long as she could keep him down for enough time that her team could safely reach and disarm him it would be fine. The only thing she was truly worried about was the second imperial that was taking extra special care to be far enough away so if she tried firing at him she would probably miss and his partner would be able to start shooting again.

"You guys just going to sit there, or are you going to help me?" She called back at her team. They jumped into action and the Imperials were soon incapacitated.

As soon as they were sure the area was secure and everyone was starting to relax, Jason, now captain of the team, came over to look at Meena's shoulder.

"It's fine," Meena protested when she noticed he had the first aid kit. "The blaster bolt barely took the skin off!"

"Then we'll just wipe it with some bacta and it won't be much of a fuss," Jason removed Meena's hand from the wound and grimaced. "If this is just the skin taken off, then I'm General Adam's twin sister!"

"Hey! Careful! It's a brand new uniform!" Meena heard snickers at her protest of Jason tearing her sleeve to get better access to the wound. "I only have one more that hasn't been subjected to my horrid mending skills!"

"Well, if you weren't so prone to get injuries, you wouldn't have to worry about that," Jason said a little harshly. "You take too many risks. You should never temp fate like that!"

"I've been tempting fate for years," Meena pushed a lock of loose, black hair back from her face. "Why stop now? Just because I might get killed? Sometimes, me taking a risk is better than everyone else dying."

Jason said nothing as he worked on Meena's shoulder. He had been watching her for a few weeks and she puzzled him. She would act one way one minute and then completely different the next. In some ways it was intriguing, but in others it was unsettling. Maybe that was why he felt attracted towards her.

"Jason, are you almost done?" Meena seemed rather anxious to get moving again. "General Adam isn't going to like it if we don't reach the point by this evening."

"Pass me that bandage," He ordered. Meena rolled her eyes at his attempt to distract her, from the stinging salve he was putting on her wound, and passed it to him. "Start moving out everyone. I won't be long in finishing up with Private Ainslie."

As the room cleared out, Meena felt herself grow tense at the feel of Jason's hands on her shoulder. She liked Jason in all, but she couldn't help but feel nervous being alone with him when he was touching her. Somehow it felt wrong to have a man other than Kade touching her in any way.

"I'm not trying to kill you, you know," Jason said a humorous light dancing in his eyes. "It's just a little bacta and bandage. Nothing life threatening."

"Why did you send them away?" Meena asked as she pulled the sleeve over her shoulder. "There could be more Imperials around, you know. It's not good for us to split up on a planet like this. There could be Imperials anywhere and we can't risk being separated if we're attacked."

"You worry too much," Jason stood up. "There aren't Imperials anywhere close to here."

"No. I just have a really bad feeling about being here," Meena started quickly walking to find the team. "And I only ever get bad feelings when something bad is about to happen."

"It's just paranoia," Jason assured her. "That feeling will disappear with time."

"No, it won't." Meena said without thinking.

"So you're an expert on those feelings?"

"No. I've just had it all my life and it hasn't made any pretence of leaving."

Jason looked as if he would pursue the subject, but they had caught up with the team and Meena started talking to Lindy on a subject that was anything but the strange feeling she got every time something bad happened.

Three days later Meena was trying to push thoughts about the conversation with Jason out of her mind when the speaker started going on about someone of importance arriving.

"Meena!" Lindy stuck her head through the door. "Stop playing with those weapons and get into the big hanger! Everyone is supposed to be there to greet Mianna Starfield!"

"Who?!" Meena nearly tripped as she jumped off of the pads where everyone trained. "Who is coming?"

"Mianna Starfield. Madam's special agent. She's here to inspect our base and make sure we are in tip-top shape. Otherwise, she'll stick around and take over the base to get us that way."

"Mianna Starfield?" _Please, please, please don't be my sister Mianna Starfield! _"Mianna Starfield from Ondo?"

"Yes. Now hurry! Almost everyone else is already there!"

Meena followed Lindy to the big hanger and they quickly found their team. Meena got into her place and waited tensely for the shuttle land and the ramp to lower.

When Mianna came down, Meena had a hard time not gasping in surprise. Mianna's auburn hair was pulled back into a simple braid that only reached her shoulders instead of almost all the way down her back, as Meena remembered it had been. Her normally bright blue eyes were dull and bloodshot. Her face was abnormally hard and stern, and her shoulders were stiff as a board.

The general went forward and started to say something, but was silenced by a small wave of Mianna's hand. Mianna seemed to snap something harsh at the general and made him blush.

Then, Mianna started over to the troops and started looking them over carefully. Her scowl was enough to tell everyone that she was not impressed.

Meena felt her heart start pounding as Mianna got closer and almost gave herself away when Mianna stood in front of her and paused. Meena resisted the temptation to say anything as Mianna's gaze dropped to her shoulder and a bemused expression crossed her face.

"Never took sewing lessons?" Mianna's voice had a knowing edge. "I once knew someone else who hadn't taken them. But she died."

Mianna suddenly turned and walked away leaving Meena feeling very unsure that her secret was safe.

Her uncertainty was increased tenfold when she was summoned to Mianna's quarters a week later.

(^)

Mira was very confused. Ever since Tynan had forced the collar on her, the torture sessions had stopped, she received food that was actually identifiable, and she was given puzzles, and things like that, to keep her entertained. Not at all sure what Tynan's motives were, Mira only ever ate enough to survive and didn't even touch anything else that was brought in. The result was that she grew thin and pale, and became mind numbingly bored.

"Striker, when I get out of here you are going to have a lot to answer for," Said Mira on a day where she was feeling sick. "And you'll be lucky if I don't bash your face in before your done."

"You know," Tynan entered the room. "For someone with all the odds against them, you seem pretty certain you are going to escape. It's rather amusing considering that collar is almost impossible to get off."

"Yes. But someone will eventually slip up and I'll get free. The collar may be highly effective for branding someone for life, but once you are a few light-years away it doesn't get effected by any boundaries."

"You seem to know a lot about the collar. You must have spent a long time studying to get the knowledge you have."

"Three years. And before that I had access to a sizeable library."

"I heard Orlo's Royal Library had books on every subject there is."

"That is rumour," Mira remembered days on end looking for one particular, embarrassing subject and never finding it. "You can read every book on every shelf and you won't find a book on what to do if your are being held captive by a maniac!"

Tynan paid the insult no heed and sat down by the plate of food Mira had left unfinished. He motioned for her to sit down and watched intently as she obeyed without so much as a complaint.

"Tell me, Mira, is there a problem with the food I have sent up?" Tynan asked his voice sounding as if he was speaking to a child.

"Only that it comes from you," Mira was braced for pain she suspected might come because of her words. "And it is actually good. When it was bad, I had no reason to be grateful to you."

"You are a very spiteful young woman, aren't you?" it was more of an observation than a question. "I have to wonder where it all comes from?"

Mira quickly looked away from his hard grey eyes. She had never felt comfortable under the piercing gaze and right now he seemed to be focusing all of that intimidation on her right then.

"Why are you so intent on keeping me here?" Mira finally asked the question that had been plaguing her mind for days now. "I've been thinking it over and there is no good answer that comes mind."

"Never like keeping the attention focused on yourself for very long, do you?" Tynan chuckled. "Eat half of the food on your plate and I'll tell you why."

Mira glared angrily at Tynan as he shoved the plate towards her and then sat back waiting. At first she had an urge to refuse and kick the plate back at him. But a small twitch of Tynan's hand dissuaded her from such an action. Grudgingly, Mira picked up the fork and scooped up some of the cold food. She ate slowly knowing that wolfing it down would make her sicker than she already was. But it was a hard temptation to resist knowing that Tynan was sitting across from her watching her every move.

"Could you stop that!" Mira eventually snapped at him. "I hate it when people watch me eat!"

"If you eat everything on your plate." Tynan had a look of mild amusement on his face.

"Fine!"

By the time Mira finished her meal, she was feeling considerably better and much stronger. She looked up in anger at Tynan and felt a bit relieved when she saw he had kept his part of the bargain and had turned away.

"I'm finished," Mira told him. "Now keep your end of the deal."

"Of course, dear Mira," Tynan got up and grabbed her chin, and forced her to look into his eyes, so their faces were only an inch apart. "I am keeping you here because I see something in you that I have seen before and don't like. I am going to break it out of you and in the process, I am going to break you. Is that clear now?"

"Clear that you are indeed a lunatic, yes," Mira wondered if he could easily see her fear. "Your reason for wanting to break me not so much. Would you care to enlighten me?"

"You sure you want me to?" a small, lazy smile spread over his face and Mira only then became aware of his hot breath on her face. "Are you absolutely certain?"

Mira tried to back up to get away from Tynan, but he only moved with her until her back was against the wall. Mira felt her heart pounding against her ribs as she saw the flicker of intent in Tynan's gaze change to a blaze and his lips lightly brush against hers and then suddenly they were pressed fully against hers very eager and demanding.

Then, his lips were gone and the door was sliding shut behind him as he left. Mira found herself sinking to the floor and just sitting there too weak to do anything else.

Tynan had kissed her? Why? And what was all of that about breaking her? Something in her that he didn't like? Just what kind of lunatic was he? These were questions that flooded through Mira's mind and refused to find answers.

"If I survive this," Mira said quietly to herself. "I'll be lucky to be alive."

Mira didn't see Tynan for the next week, but she was quite thankful for that. She didn't think she could see him without trying to attack him. She had never suspected that he was going to do something like that! She could understand the breaking part, most maniacs did that to their prisoners. But the kissing was beyond her! What was his motive?

Mira was suddenly distracted from her thoughts by someone screaming in agony. Another rebel being tortured by Tynan no doubt. The only question was how long would they last? How long would Mira have to listen to them screaming?

Apparently only half an hour. Tears filled Mira's eyes when the screaming stopped. She'd barely had a taste of what it was like and most rebels had to endure the full treatment until they died.

"Oh, not another one!" Mira covered her ears as another rebel started screaming. "Please let it stop!"

If Tynan walked through the doors right now, Mira was sure she would try kill to him. It was one thing to be kept captive. Another thing to be forced to listen to the screams of people who didn't deserve this kind of fate. A fate the no one deserved.

This was one of those times when Mira wished she had been Force-sensitive. Maybe then she would have been able to get out of this mess. And maybe she would have been able to find Striker and find out what she had done.

Striker had a lot to answer to. Trying to murder the Emperor was not something you attempted everyday and with no clear plan on how you are going to do it.

A new thing popped up in Mira's mind. A small word that she hadn't thought in a long time.

_Gence!_ If Striker was on the run, where was Gence?

(^)

Gence was laying in the medical ward of a little known medical centre for children. He didn't understand why they kept him in the bed. He was getting stronger everyday and he should at least be able to get into a hover chair. Better yet, he should be able to walk with only a cane. But no! They had to be sure this was permanent and not just the end for him.

"Are you going to let me out of this bed anytime soon?" Gence snapped as one of the many doctors came in to check his vitals. "There is no real reason why I can't get up. Well, no reason except your paranoid!"

"Mr. Starrider," she showed him two different charts. "This is how you were a week ago and this is how you are now."

"The first is beat up and the second doesn't have much wrong with it. I don't see the big deal!"

"The big deal is that you were this condition one minute," the doctor held up the first chart. "And then the next you are on your way to recovery. This is quite strange for us and we want to be sure it is what we think it is and not just a phase before a relapse."

There was a soft knock on the door and Striker, or Lona as she wanted to be called, stuck her head in the door. Gence hadn't seen much of her since the day he had woken up. He had a feeling she was purposely avoiding the confrontation he was planning to have with her when they were next alone.

"How are you feeling?" Lona asked eyeing the syringes warily.

"Good enough to try and attack you for distracting me during the flight," Gence didn't miss the look in the doctor's eyes or the needle right by her hand. "But I think I'll just stay here until I get the okay to get up."

"Oh. Well, there is something wrong with your cousin," Lona glanced at the doctor. "I tried to get into contact with her, and there was no answer. I even tried the emergency and got nothing."

"What? Where did she go? When was the last time you talked to her?"

"I told her to go have some fun and that was the last time we talked," Lona seemed very unworried about this. "You know her better than I do. So just tell me of any favourite haunts she might have or any buddies she might have decided to go see and we'll be good."

"Lona, if Mira was going to go visit someone or go to a favourite haunt, she would have definitely had the comlink close by and would have been watching it to see if you were going to send the signal soon. She gets really bored really very easily and quickly."

"She could have decided not to take a break and is doing a job right now."

"Lona, have you ever known Mira to be as careless as to not have her emergency com with her when she was doing a job?"

"Actually, there were a few incidents where she forgot or purposely didn't take it."

"Doctor, could you leave us alone?" Gence slapped her hand away when she tried to inject something into his system. "I have some important things to discuss with my sister and I would like to keep them private."

"Of course." The doctor nodded and left.

"Now Lona, Striker, or whatever your name is, can you please tell me why you are a sixteen year old out on your own and bounty-hunting?"

"Gence, I have my reasons and I don't want to talk about them like this. All I can say is that circumstances forced me to go out on my own. You have to understand that I can't explain it right now. I might never be able to explain. Just believe me when I say my life before I left was not worth living. Now I have to go. A little terror is undoubtedly going to try and escape again, so I'll go help keep her under control."

Lona turned and walked out the door knowing full well that little ears had been listening to everything that had been said. When she got a little further down the hall she suddenly turned and grabbed at Jade who was hiding behind a food cart.

"Now what do we have here?" she asked the little toddler. "A little cupcake for one of the patients dessert, I shouldn't wonder. I think I might want to eat it instead of finding out who it belongs to."

"No!" Jade shrieked. "I'm not yummy! I'm not yummy!"

"You're not yummy? Than what are you doing in the food cart?"

"Hiding from Edna."

"You're always hiding from Edna. Why?"

"She won't let me play and she makes me sick!" Jade threw her arms around Lona's neck and held on with a grip that one would not normally expect from a child so small. "I don't like being sick!"

Lona frowned at the child's words. She knew Jade had some illness that was being treated, but she had never found out just what that illness was. She was going to have to try to get Edna to tell her.

"How does she make you sick?"

"She won't let me play!"

Lona rubbed her hand up and down the girl's back comfortingly. It was a shame for such a sweet child to be stuck in a medical centre meant for the injured and sick war-orphans.

"Ah! There's my little runaway!" Edna reached for Jade.

"NO! Wanna stay with Loma!" Jade screamed and tightened her grip on Lona's neck. "Wanna stay with Loma!"

"Perhaps she should stay with me for a while," Lona managed to gasp out as she tried to loosen the death-grip around her neck that was cutting off her air. "I'll calm her down and bring her to you later."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive!" Lona exclaimed feeling her face start to go red. "Now, if you'll kindly get lost. I'll calm her down."

"Alright," Edna said uncertainly as she turned and started away. "If you need me, I'll be looking after the other children. You do know where the other children are?"

"Yes. Now get lost!" Edna quickly left and Lona turned her attention to the toddler around her neck. "Jade, she's gone. You can let go now. Hey, it's all right."

"Loma, don't let me go! Don't let me go!" Jade begged as she sobbed. "I don't want to go back to Edna! I wanna stay with you! Wanna stay with you!"

"Alright. Alright. You can stay with me," Lona assured Jade. "Just let go of my neck and we'll go do something fun. Okay?"

"Okay." Jade released her grip and buried her face in Lona's neck.

Lona made soothing sounds and started walking to the pond. By the time she made it there, Jade was breathing was even and soft and her eyes were closed.

Instead of taking Jade back to the children's ward, she just sat down by the clear water and cuddled the little girl. It had been so long since she had seen Millie and found out she actually liked children. It was nice to be around them again.

(^)

"Kade, something is definitely wrong with you," Anna leaned back in her chair after all the other captains had left the conference meeting she had been forced to attend. "You look… unfocused. Something happened when you went to Couroscant. Whatever it was, it wasn't good. You need to either tell someone about it, or deal with it. In the meantime, I want you to have these meetings through hologram and not in person."

Kade watched tiredly as Anna stood up to leave. Leave it to her to be blunt and honest as if nothing was at stake. It seemed like she was the only one who seemed to care about him enough to tell him what was wrong.

He knew the road he was travelling was treacherous and terrible. He had travelled it before, many times before, and it had always given him nothing but pain. The strange thing was, he could never stop himself. He could never catch himself at the point where he started down it. Sometimes he felt certain that he was destined to go down that path until he reached the point of no return and then one day he would continue on until he died.

"Sir, there is a slight problem with the most recent placement," one of Kade's agents walked through the door. "Mrs. Winslow wants to be placed on a planet that does not look like the one she just came from. Somewhere like Alderaan, but with nicer lakes and oceans."

"Very picky, that Mrs. Winslow," Kade chuckled. "Send her to Naboo. That should be a nice place for her to raise her child."

"Right away, sir." The agent turned and left.

"I need to retire before I turn forty," Kade ran a hand through his hair and started walking out of the room. The alarm started blaring and he couldn't help but groan. "If I don't die before this war is over, I'm sure I could somehow find a way to suddenly vanish from the universe. Hmm, maybe killed in action."

Kade smirked to himself as he made his way to the bridge, for him to be able to fake his own death and his father to actually believe it to be true, he would actually have to die.

"And like I'm going to do that anytime soon," He snorted. "I have too much stuff going on to die."

That night, as Kade trained, his vision was suddenly clouded and it seemed as if he was in another place and time. The horror of it all was so vivid and realistic, Kade was left kneeling on the floor, weeping like a child by the time it was all over.

"Back to work!" Master Kade's harsh voice sounded over the bridge causing everyone to jump and try harder to look as if they were working. He had been acting strange ever since the day he had teamed up with Captain Anna and most of the crew thought it was because he was bitter that she was getting on with her life and marrying someone else. And Kade decided that he would let them have that assumption unless they started to spread rumours outside of the ship. Than he would deal with it.

"Master Kade," one of the officers was looking slightly uncertain at her screen. "There appears to be a small facility on the planet we are approaching. I don't believe it is rebel. However, I could be wrong"

"Well, let's look closer at it, shall we?" Kade bent down beside her and examined the small building on the screen with pretend confusion. "Whatever it is, there is no reason to believe it is rebel related. Send a one man shuttle down and have him report back on what he finds.

The officer nodded and then Kade was called away to another matter. When it was confirmed that it was not a rebel base, no one noticed the trooper wasn't the same man who was sent down.

"You know, you don't have to go through torture," Kade said to the rebel that was cowering in the corner of their cell. "You could simply tell me what I want to know and you can go free."

"Free to do what?"

"Free to join the Empire for as long as it takes to make absolute certain that you won't go running back to the rebellion," Kade leaned back against the cool metal door behind him. "I highly suggest you make your decision. Because I have been living in my own personal Hell the last few days and I have little patience for people who don't want to make up your minds! You have until tomorrow. If you do decide to go through torture it will start first thing in the morning."

Kade walked out of the cell and walked to the next one. He hated being the one who had to try and persuade all the rebels to spill what they knew and join the Empire. But he knew none would take it seriously if he wasn't making the offer in the flesh, so it was through the hundreds of cells making the same offer over and over and over. It was exhausting.

Kade was just about to enter when he felt danger. He ducked and spun around while his hand shot out and caught his attacker in the stomach. His hand flew up at the same time and the small sting that shot up his hand when it connected with the attackers jaw was strangely satisfying.

The rebel assassin fell hard onto the floor. He was about thirty, short, slight, and very dark. His face was scarred with burn marks and white lines that must have been from blades.

"Admiral, there's been another attempt on my life. Send the team to pick up the assassin and have him taken straight to the interrogation room. I want to know exactly where we picked him up and who sent him." Kade opened the cell door and got back to his work.

The interrogation of the rebel assassin was a great success. The assassin not only admitted to being in the upper ranks of the rebellion, but was also wiling to tell who the leaders, under Madam, were and where they were.

Kade was soon having all Imperial battle ships set course for every planet the assassin had admitted to rebel leaders being on. The only person the assassin didn't know the location of was Madam. But he did know that Mianna Starfield was the closest person to her and was bound to know exactly where Madam was.

The only problem was Mianna Starfield was in the outer rim on a tiny planet that had no name and there were a lot of tiny planets in the outer rim that had no name. It could take weeks for them to find the planet and even if they did, Mianna would probably have cleaned out by the time they found it.

"Are you sure you can't narrow it down for us?" Kade asked the assassin for the millionth time. "Your information is very valuable to us, but it will mean nothing if we can't find Mianna Starfield and capture Madam."

"I'm sorry," the assassin shook his head. "Miss. Starfield was absolutely certain she didn't want the exact location of it publicised. Madam backed her up on that. No one but Madam and the people on that base know where it is."

"Well, can't make you tell what you don't know," Kade reached into his pocket and brought out the new ID for the assassin. "As agreed. Here is your new name and access to your old records. Rewrite your entire history and then you can start your work as my personal assassin."

"Thank-you, sir."

Wow, it can be hard to write chapters and make them turn out all right. If you have any ideas, questions, likes, or dislikes, then feel free to click the Review button and tell me your thoughts on the story.


	3. Chapter 3

Hours had passed since Mianna had started shouting angrily at her little sister. Reanna just sat through the whole tirade listening and becoming a little furious by the time Mianna paused to cool down a bit.

"Are you quite done shouting?" Reanna asked as she bit into one of the apples in front of her. "If so, I have a lot of things to correct you on. First, it was not my fault that I was attacked by pirates and sold into slavery. Second, Master Kade was always very strict about me not having much of any contact with the outside world. Third, I don't see how fighting for the side I believe in is right. Fourth, my name is Meena Ainslie until this war ends. Unless you come from the Imperial side of things. Fifth, I really have to get going. I've been assigned to a mission on some frozen planet."

"First, I want you to tell me the nature of your relationship with Master Kade?"

Reanna nearly started choking on the apple she was eating at the question about her personal feelings. What was the nature of their relationship? She had kissed him, yes, but she wasn't entirely certain she loved him in that way.

"Our relationship is private," Reanna stood up and started out the door. "For future reference, don't tell your boss about me. Madam and I weren't on the best terms the last time we saw each other."

"Reanna, this is just a little piece of advice. Don't get truly involved with him. He is something dangerous underneath the surface and when the danger comes out, you do not want to be one of the first people he thinks of."

Reanna just shook her head and continued on her way to get to her team. Mianna had no reason to be sticking her nose into Reanna's business. Especially her personal life and feelings!

The loud joking shouts of her team reached her ears and she shoved every thought that belonged to the Reanna side of her and filled her mind with thoughts that belonged to the Meena side of her. She was now an ex-prostitute from a backwater planet.

"Hey, Meena," Jason threw his arm over her shoulder and drew her towards the group. "can you please tell these bozos that I am right and they are wrong?"

"About what?"

"About how Naboo has the purist water in the entire galaxy."

"Actually, it doesn't. The purist water found in the galaxy is on a small planet called Ayslon in the Ayslon system. Naboo has more lakes and rivers, but Ayslon definitely has the best water."

"You're all against me, aren't you?" Jason took his arm off of Meena's shoulders and brought out one of his maps. "Okay, this is a map of the catacombs we're going to have to travel through. The main cavern is where we believe the small band of Imperials has been holed up the last few weeks. We need to somehow get in there and surround them. The one we absolutely need to capture is Micalson Delto. He has information vital to the survival of the rebellion."

"I thought the rebellion was doing all right," Meena decided to gather what she could about this information. "What is so important about this information?"

"This information is about the whereabouts of Lady Anna Rane for the next four months."

"Why do we need her whereabouts? Shouldn't we try to capture Master Kade? I mean, he's the main man in this war."

"That is for the leaders of this war to know and it is for us not to question." Jason closed the topic as he closed the map and headed towards their cruiser. Meena could tell he didn't fully trust her with that information and wasn't about to let her know the plans for the victory.

"Meena? Meena, wake up! It's all right," Jason's voice interrupted Meena's dreams of death and destruction. "We're almost at our destination. The team is assembling by the ramp. You might want to get there soon."

"Fine." Meena quickly sat up and started out.

"Meena, I can't help but get the feeling you are uncomfortable being on my team," Jason sounded as if he didn't truly want to be saying what he was saying to her. "So, I was talk-"

"Hey, Cap'n," Lindy interrupted the potentially awkward conversation. "I need you up in the cockpit. Landing this thing is a completely new experience for me and I'd prefer it if someone was supervising me."

Jason nodded and followed Lindy into the cockpit. Meena let out a sigh of relief. She had a strong feeling Jason was going to ask her about why she was so uncomfortable being around him, and she was not ready for that. How was she supposed to tell him that he came off as a creeper with a good sense of humour?

The ramp opened and Meena shivered at the cold blast of wind hit her face and pulled her coat close around her. It must be several degrees below zero and Meena wasn't entirely sure that her coat was enough to keep her from freezing.

"Ready to freeze your face off?" Lindy smiled at Meena when she got back from the cockpit. "I know I sure am not! Why couldn't the Imperials choose a warm planet?"

"Because they think that ice planets are less noticeable?"

"Who knows?" Lindy spread her arms wide. "I've always wanted to visit one of these planets anyways, now I don't even have to pay for the trip."

"Yeah, but you won't really have any time to enjoy it," Meena said as they stepped off the cruiser and headed towards the entrance of the catacombs. "You'll be to busy following orders."

It only took an hour to find the main cavern and surround the small group of Imperials. Meena was slightly upset with her position at one of the smaller, less used entrances. She knew she had been placed there because Jason didn't see her as the fighting type. And he also thought of her "health problems". Sure her ribs were still considerably weak and her lungs had very little capacity, but she could still fight.

_Bang!_ A bright flash of light followed the loud noise and chaos ensued among the Imperials as the attack began. It was pretty quick and Meena started relaxing when she saw that the last few Imperials rounded up and some of the team from the main entrance started forward.

Her relaxation turned out to be one of the dumbest things she could have done. Just as Jason gave the signal for everyone to move in, a man barreled towards the exit. Meena reflexively stood in his way, but was roughly pushed aside and landed on top of a small stalagmite. She heard a sickening crack and knew she was in very bad shape. Her breath was starting to come in small gasps and her vision started blurring.

When the team got to her and asked what was wrong, she was only able to gasp out the words: "Ribs, lungs."

(^)

All of the children in the ward were so small and so pale it was a wonder they weren't ghosts. Also, most of the children were sleeping as if it was the middle of the night.

For some reason, this seemed very wrong. These children should be up and running around bursting with energy. But they were just lying there. Still and silent.

"Ah, Miss. Starrider," Edna smiled a little tightly when she noticed Lona looking down at one of the little children. "Sightseeing?"

"What is Jade here for? What are all these children here for?" Lona was quite angry at Edna right then.

"Jade is here for a rare disease I am not at liberty to discuss with you," Edna turned as if the conversation was over and started looking over a bunch of syringes. "Same as the rest of the children."

"How many of them have terminal diseases? All of them?"

"I am not at liberty to discuss this with you," Edna took one of the syringes and went over to a little boy. "Now kindly leave the children's ward. I have a lot of work to do and I don't need the children awake and running around making my job almost impossible to do. Now get out!"

Lona nodded stiffly and turned to go. An idea formed in her head as she passed by the tray full of syringes and the medicine Edna was injecting into the children's systems. She snatched up one of the small bottles and dropped it into her pocket.

She would look it over in the medical lab and find out what exactly it was. Then, if it was what she thought it was, she would somehow get authorities involved. If it was the drug she thought it was, it was dangerous for this facility to be using it on children. Dangerous and illegal.

Lona was nearly to the lab when Gence met up with her. She was a little surprised to see him up and around, but realized that he was easily manuvering around with his crutches, so didn't worry.

"So, what's my "sister" in such a hurry about?" He asked.

"Don't call me that," Lona took out the bottle and passed it to him. "I have this bad feeling about what they're putting into this stuff. If it has a certain drug in it, this facility either has to be shut down or sold to a new owner."

"What if you're wrong and it doesn't have the drug?"

"Then we'll need to get out of here as fast as we can. Because I'm not supposed to have this and I'm not very well trusted here. Who knows what they'll do if I get caught with this."

"Then why are you going into the medical lab if you don't want to get caught?"

"I'm not going to do the stupid thing and walk straight in there," Lona stopped right outside of the corridor leading to the room and used the Force to turn all the cameras off. Then, she made one of the important instruments malfunction in another part of the medical ward. A soon as she was certain no one was in the lab anymore she snuck around the corner and entered the lab. "Now, let's see what this really stuff is."

Gence watched as the sixteen-year-old poured a little of the medicine onto a little slide and put it under the microscope. By the look on her face, it was exactly what Lona had thought it was.

"Gence, here's a little piece of advice," Lona cleaned of the slide. "Have a relapse or get off the planet. The authorities won't recognize me on my own, on account that my face hasn't been plastered all over the galaxy. However, I'm bound to be more at risk if you are here."

"They'll probably piece it together when they see the record of a young human male and female crashing here so soon after the assassination attempt." Gence pointed out.

"Unless the records suddenly disappear," Lona headed towards the main computer terminal as she passed the bottle to Gence. "Go send this to the nearest Imperial garrison and make sure they know where it came from and that they are using it on children."

Gence nodded and left to do what he had been ordered, and Lona went into the computer room, sat down, and started working through the security. To her it was as easy as reading Mira's diary. But without the whole spill on the anger, crushes, and worry.

The records were soon erased and Lona was on her way back to her quarters. She was going to go back to her room and sleep the rest of the day away. She was just so tired.

"Loma!" Jade was absolutely terrified as she threw her arms around Lona's legs. "He's here! I don't want him to be here! Get him to go away and keep him away!"

"Jade, what's wrong? Who do you want me to make go away?" Lona asked as she bent down to hug the toddler to herself.

"Him!" Jade pointed down the hall at a short slight man that was walking quickly towards them.

"Jade, please don't bother this young lady," his voice was a little too high pitched and was a bit reedy. "Edna needs to give you your medicine and she can't do that if you're hiding from her."

"Actually, Jade and I usually spend the afternoons with each other, there is no true reason why she needs to remain inactive most of the time. It only makes her sick."

"And you are?" The man's voice was bordering on incredulous.

"Lona Starrider. My brother is a patient here."

"Well, Jade is my daughter and she will do as I see fit. And I want her to take her medicine."

Jade's father? Lona had always thought that Jade was an orphan. She would never have guessed that at least one of Jade's parents were alive. But, then again, Lona had never asked about them. She had only assumed. And it proved that her assumptions had been wrong.

"You're her father? Well, of course, you just said so," Lona picked Jade up and let the girl curl her arms around her neck. "I'm sorry, my mind has flown to a million different places and left me in this one."

"Well, I suggest you get it back in one place!" his voice turned terse. "Now, I'll just take my daughter and go to the professional child nurse to have her disease treated."

He reached his arms out to grab Jade and Lona instantly felt the grip around her neck start to turn into a death grip. Lona reached up and tried loosening the grip before it started cutting off her air only to find it had already gone too tight.

"Sir, I am asking you politely to please _let her be!_ Otherwise, you'll be responsible for my untimely death," Lona took a step away from the man. "I'll bring her to the ward as soon as she falls asleep."

Lona turned, quickly went into her room, and locked the door behind herself. Why was there always someone upsetting Jade and causing the child to use her unusual strength to make a death grip around Lona? Why was Jade so attached to Lona in the first place?

"Jade, why are you so scared of your daddy?" Lona asked as she sat down on one of comfy chairs.

"Don't make me go to him! He hurt Mama!" Jade buried her face in Lona's chest. "Mama always cries when he hurts her."

"Hush! It's all right. I'm right here!"

After Lona delivered the child to the ward and she got back to her room, she cried long and hard over the fact that she had allowed a helpless little girl to be injected with a horrible drug.

(^)

Kade could barely take his mind off of the images of Reanna that had been running through his head since the vision he had experienced in his training room. Her face full of pain and agony, her cold body in his arms, and her blood staining his hands. These were the things he kept on seeing in his head and he could do nothing to banish them.

Needless to say, he was losing sleep over it and his attitude towards his crew was less than considerate. But, strangely, he didn't care. He only cared about getting information from the rebels that would be useful for ending the war.

Kade remembered how he had not wanted the war to start, but didn't speak up for fear of swaying all of the votes towards what he wanted, he was beginning to think that he had made a horrible mistake by not speaking up. Who knows what course the galaxy would have taken if this war hadn't started?

"Master Kade, we are picking up a faint transmission from a small cruiser," one of the crew drew his attention. "I'll put it on the speaker for you."

"Major injury, " the transmission was very staticy. "Private Ainslie has not regained consciousness in seven hours. We suspect she has a punctured lung, we have set her ribs the best we can, and have her on oxygen."

"Where is it coming from?" Kade asked a little worried at the name Ainslie.

"I'm not entirely sure, but the transmission is going to a small planet a few parsecs away from Tatooine. It used to be a small illegal mining planet, but when it shut down it was completely abandoned."

"It's the rebel base. Admiral, set course for the coordinates this officer will give you and have everyone prepare for a raid."

"Yes, sir."

"I'll be in my quarters. Don't disturb me until we reach our destination."

Kade turned and walked off the bridge. The images were becoming more vivid and were starting to overrun his mind. Screams of fear and agony seared through his mind and little white hot daggers stabbed it repeatedly.

He was staggering drunkenly by the time he reached his quarters and could barely palm the door open. He made it to the couch and then collapsed weakly against it. He soon succumbed to unconsciousness and was lost in the humongous labyrinth of suffering and deceit.

He didn't wake up until his comlink started beeping. He answered and nodded unsurprised at the news that they were approaching the rebel base. Kade stood up and took a moment to steady himself.

"I'm going to have to get a physical when I have time," Kade went to him room to get a fresh set of clothes. "But when am I ever going to have that? My time is given solely to the galaxy and I'm not allowed to have any time to myself."

Kade returned to the bridge and waited patiently for the _Conqueror_ to come out of lightspeed. This would hopefully bring them ten steps more towards the end of the war.

End of the war. Those words had never seemed to hold much meaning in them before. But now, with the knowledge that if they capture Mianna Starfield, they could really come true.

"Sir, transmission from the surface."

"Put it through."

"Master Kade," Mianna Starfield's face appeared on the screen. "We surrender."

(^)

"Surrender?" General Adam was outraged when he heard Mianna's orders to step down and let the Imperials take over. "We can fight! We will fight!"

"No!" Mianna shot the idea of fighting down. "Have you ever once heard of Master Kade losing a battle? No. And you know why? Because he knows what he is doing. He knows this even before he can take stalk of the situation. I know how to win a battle, but he has had years of experience that I haven't. To go against him would mean slaughter for almost everyone here. I am not going to be responsible for a massacre. Give the order for everyone to form up in the largest hanger we have."

Mianna hoped General Adam wouldn't question her motives any further. She knew he was going to try and report her doings to Madam and Mianna knew Madam would know it was because of Millie and not because Mianna doubted herself.

That's why, as soon as General Adam left her, she immediately knocked out every possible way to communicate with the outside world. Then, she quickly went to the hanger she told everyone to form up in and waited for the Imperial forces to land. When they did and Master Kade strolled down, Mianna couldn't help but feel dread.

"As agreed, Master Kade," Mianna motioned to everyone around her and the pile of weapons twenty feet from the rebels. "Now, are you going to keep up your part of the bargain?"

Master Kade gave a dry smile and landed an extra hard punch on Mianna's head. Her mind barely had time to register the pain before she fell into blissful nothingness.

She woke up a few hours later in one of the cells on the _Conqueror_ and gave Master Kade a harsh glare. She rubbed her head where a bruise was forming and groaned.

"Did you have to hit me so hard? I know I asked you to, but it hurts worse than Hell."

"I'm sorry," Master Kade gave a smile wry smile. "But I wasn't sure how hard would knock you unconscious, so I had to estimate and I've never been good at that. Now, tell me about your niece."

"I was going to leave the rebellion about month ago," Mianna began. "I told Madam and she didn't like it. To her, once you are in the rebellion, you belong to her. It was the day I was going to leave when I first noticed Millie was gone. I went looking for her and found her in the medical ward. They had placed a transmitter in her body. Madam threatened that if I even thought about going against her, she would set it off and kill Millie. The wrist band I was wearing has a small alarm built into it. If Millie dies, it goes off," the look on Kade's face could only be described as pure rage. "I have no idea where Millie is or who she's with. I only know that if my own transmitter doesn't go off and you suddenly show up, it'll only take a second for her to trigger Millie's. So, if I tell you where Madam is, locate Millie before you go storming in there."

"I promise I won't go near Madam's base without locating your niece," Kade assured her. "Now tell me where the base is."

"First, I also want your word that you will leave my little sister alone."

"What?" Mianna's question threw Kade off.

"Reanna. I want you to leave Reanna alone. You have absolutely no business going near her and it's just better for everyone if you leave her alone and never try to see her again. Clear?"

"Give me a reason as to why I should." Kade wasn't very agreeable on this matter.

"Because, I am her older sister and I am telling you to."

"Reanna is of legal age and she is allowed to make her own decisions. If she wants me to leave her alone, I will do so. But only when _she_ asks me to. Also, you gave your word that if I helped you with Millie's situation and took everyone from the base alive, you would tell me where I could find Madam. I've given my word on that, and now it is time for you to keep yours."

"She's on Naboo. In her house by the Lake Country."

Mira was enjoying the benefits of a deep sleep when a small scraping noise and a blade suddenly pressed to her throat abruptly woke her from it. She opened her mouth to say something along the lines of "get lost" when it pressed even tighter causing her to start choking. She was lifted up off of her cot and started marching her out of her room.

The blade was removed, but was replaced by a strong arm that went even tighter and there was no way Mira could get even the smallest breath. She could vaguely see the crew of the ship pass by, but she knew that soon her awareness of reality would vanish and her life would follow soon after.

"Now, now, now," Tynan's annoying voice seemed very unworried. "Where do you think you're going with my prisoner? Surely, you aren't thinking about taking her off my ship for me?"

"Nah, I was just taking her to the hanger, where I was going to kill her, and than be on my way. Nearly made it this time too. Your security going slackish?"

"No. But things here have been so boring, I just had to let you become over confident so that I can make your fall all the harder."

_Why didn't I force him to cut my throat?_ Mira thought a little despairingly as spots covered her vision. _It would have been better than Mr. Smooth and Slick's method of breaking someone._

"As much as you're probably enjoying cutting off her air, I believe you would have a lot more enjoyment by letting her go," Mira fell to the floor, as the arm around her throat suddenly released her, and coughed violently. Her eyes fell closed and she couldn't lift them. "That's better. Now, why don't you go where you belong? The place also known as, the garbage shoot."

There was a loud _clang_, then footsteps approached, and a hand gently caressed the side of her face. A low chuckle sounded right beside her ear and then she felt arms lift her off the ground and start carrying her back through the halls of the ship. Her eyes and mind couldn't focus, and even though she could breathe, her vision was still clouding. It wasn't long until she was unconscious.

When she awoke, she immediately noticed she wasn't back in her cell. The cold, dreary walls had been replaced with a warm reddish brown sandstone. Instead of the hard lumpy cot that normally left knots in her back, there was a soft feather mattress and pillows under her. She sat up and looked down at the silken covers and nightgown and gasped in shock at the drastic changes.

"Am I dead?" She asked herself as she looked around the well furnished room. "No, I can't be. If I had died, my face would be normal again. So, what is all of this?"

"This is, what you might call, my second home," Tynan walked through the doorway without so much as a warning. "Master Kade has found most of the rebel bases. I'm going to raid a few places, and I won't have time to watch you, so I decided I didn't want to run the risk of my security messing up and my favourite captive somehow getting away and leave you in the capable hands of my uncle and his wife."

"So where is your "second home"? And why does it actually look like it's a nice place to be?"

"I'll keep the information of the name of this planet to myself," Tynan looked very relaxed. "This planet has always been a jewel in the dreary galaxy for millions of years. Once it was almost turned into a resort."

"What did you do with my clothes?" Mira quickly brought the covers up around her neck when she noticed how low cut her nightgown was. "Because I am not wearing this all day."

"Nor would I expect you to," Tynan used the Force to toss her a robe. "The seamstresses are working overtime to get a suitable wardrobe made up for you."

"A wardrobe? Since when did you decide I need a wardrobe? Since when did I give you licence to decide if I need a wardrobe or not?"

"You didn't. But I decided that you needed one. So you are getting one."

Mira growled angrily as she got up from the bed and knotted the rope around her narrow waist. Tynan better not have commissioned clothes like the ones she'd had to wear when she was living with her royal family. Those type of clothes could do amazing things to your figure, but they were very constricting and made it impossible to breath comfortably.

"Who was that on the ship? The one who wanted to drag me all the way to the hanger and then kill me."

"That was my idiot cousin," Tynan sat down on the edge of the bed and watched as Mira wrapped her arms around herself and then stared out at the window. "He thought he should have been chosen by the Emperor to be trained. He kept trying to prove that by trying annoying escapades to prove he could best me. Needless to say, he won't be bugging me again."

Mira ignored Tynan and stared at the beautiful landscape outside her window and couldn't help but believe she was on the verge of heaven. The meadows fading into forests, and forests fading into glories mountains.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Mira jumped at the feel of his hands on her arms and the sound of his voice in her right ear. "Almost makes me wish I could let you go out and experience it."

"Get your hands off of me." Mira hated the way his hands made the silk rub against her skin.

"Why should I?" His left hand ran through her hair while the right went around her waist and pulled her against his warm body. "You know, I could do anything I wanted to you and no one here would care."

"Master Deelan?" a tall, grey skinned creature walked through the door. "Master Rives is waiting in the garden. And Lady says the first three gowns are done."

"Excellent," Tynan's left hand dropped to join the right around Mira's waist. "You can tell Rives I'll be there momentarily, and tell Lady to go ahead with the fittings," the maid left the room and Tynan immediately buried his face in Mira's neck and took a deep breath. "Now, don't go wondering off. When Lady gets here with your new clothes, do not do anything that is violent in any way towards her or her maids. And do not under any circumstances, avoid looking into their faces. No matter how weird you might think they look."

Mira sighed with relief as Tynan's arms fell from her and his footsteps receded from the room. She was terrified of Tynan. She had never been so scared of anyone in her life. He was able to do things to her that no one before had ever been able to come close to her to do. All it took for him was a few seconds and he could have her pinned and helpless.

Mira walked over to the mirror and stared angrily at her reflection. Her stupid face was nearly unbearable to look at anymore. Any features that may have made her mildly attractive had been destroyed when Mianna Starfield had blown her temper and had one of her henchmen take a vibroblade to it.

"Force, I hate my life!"

"Hate your life? How could someone so enchanting hate their life?" a soft song-like voice said from behind Mira. "I would almost be willing to trade my finest jewels to lead such an exciting life."

Mira turned around to see one of the creatures standing in the doorway of her room carrying an armload of material. She was also tall, her skin was a light brown and her features could only be described as indescribable. The closest thing anyone could use was birdlike, but much more refined. Her hair was a strangest mixture of black, brown, red, and blond. No strand was one colour. It was twisted back in an elegant mass of braids. The creature's eyes didn't have any irises or pupils and were the colour of the deepest red Mira had ever seen. Then the creature started forwards and it showed that it had a very short body and very long legs.

"Enchanting? That is something I will never be," Mira thought the description of herself to be most amusing. "And my life may be exciting, but it's not the kind anyone would want. Mostly it's just running from one place to another trying to get money for dragging people to the police. After the first few bounties, they kind of fall into a pattern."

"Here are the clothes Master Deelan ordered for you," the creature dropped the materials onto the bed and picked up three different items. "Take these behind the screen and try them on. If you need help just tell me."

Mira took the clothes and went behind the screen. It didn't take long for her to get the outfit on and all straightened out. She glanced into the mirror and scowled. Either Tynan really paid attention to what looked good on people, or he made sure that the seamstresses knew what they were doing.

"What's your name?" Mira asked as she stepped out from behind the screen.

"Lady," the creature blinked a few times as she looked over Mira. "Perfect. The rest of your wardrobe will be finished by this evening. Master Deelan will want you to make an appearance at dinner this evening. Maybe even sooner."

Lady turned around and walked out the door leaving Mira completely alone. She was who knows how far away from anyone she knew and could get help from.

I feel as if I'm digging myself into a deep hole. Do any other writers find that they want to do one thing, but their characters want to do something completely different? I am not crazy, but this seriously does happen to me. If you have any ideas, questions, likes, or dislikes, Review.


	4. Chapter 4

Meena slowly opened her eyes and glared at the doctor tending her ribs. Their hands were freezing and caused her ribs to hurt worse than they had when she fell on them. She tried to tell the doctor to get lost, however, the oxygen mask over her mouth and nose made it impossible to say anything clearly.

The doctor ignored her and continued on with her work. It was fifteen minutes before the doctor finished, removed the oxygen mask, and left the room. Meena looked around the small white room and was a little surprised to see that she wasn't back at the base.

"How you feeling, Meena?" Lindy walked in and sat down in the chair beside the bed. "That was quite the fall you had. Wasn't too sure we could get you proper help before the oxygen ran out. But, we got here just in time and your on your way to recovery."

"Wh-where are we?" it hurt to speak. "Wh-why aren't we at the base?"

"We're on Naboo. The base was raided and Madam thought it best we come here until things settle," Lindy didn't notice the light of interest ignite in Meena's eyes. "Most of the leaders have been caught and have been incarcerated. Madam is pulling as many of the remaining rebels as she can find here."

"Why? What happened?"

"Oh, yeah! You've been out for the last three days. One of the leaders must have blabbed, because almost all a once, the Empire attacked all the bases where the leaders were staying and completely wiped them out."

"You're kidding me!" Meena's eyes were the size of saucers. "How could a leader betray us like that?"

"I have no idea. All I know is that someone blabbed and we're stuck on Naboo until Madam thinks it is safe for us to leave."

"Are my ribs broken?" Meena asked as she tried to sit up.

"Thankfully, no. They are badly bruised and your lungs are very weak, but you'll be all right in a few days. But, hey, we've got weeks of relaxation ahead of us and there is no rush."

Meena nodded and relaxed. This was better than she could ever hope for. Madam's own personal hide out. Meena made a mental note to thank Kade for his impeccable timing. Being sent here because there was no other place to go was better than waiting for months to rise to a good enough position to get in on top secret matters.

Now the only problem was healing up quick enough so she could go unnoticed by Madam until the time was right. And that would hopefully only be in a few days. Maybe two weeks at the most. Just as long as it wasn't too long and Madam didn't think it important to socialize with her troops. That was a meeting Meena would avoid at any lengths.

"I should let you rest," Lindy stood up to go. "Madam is going to want to question you as soon as you're feeling strong enough. She wants to know everything we know about what happened at the base. Jason told her you were unconscious through the whole ordeal, but she is adamant that you might know something."

"Thanks for the warning," Meena smiled tiredly. "I'll be all right just as soon as I get some more rest."

Lindy smiled and sauntered from the room. Meena relaxed and let her eyes fall closed. She needed a plan. She knew she wasn't near healthy enough to try and take someone captive by force, but there were other methods. Like tricking Madam into doing something stupid again, but that wasn't bound to work a second time, and Meena was just itching to do something different that would make Madam seethe with rage.

A small smile pulled at the corners of Meena's lips as a plan formed in her mind. She could just see the displeased look Kade would give her if things worked out according to her plan. She was going to get a real scolding when Kade got there and things were settling down. It would be long and gruelling, but she would expect no less from the third most powerful man in the galaxy. In fact, she kind of looked forward to it. His scoldings were always pointless and she liked being able to get him to laugh over it after he was finished.

Meena lifted a hand to rub her eye and realized that the dye in her eyes was starting to wear off. It had almost been two weeks since she had last re-dyed them, and it was only because her eyes had been closed the last two days that it hadn't worn off already. If it wore off before she could put her plan into action, Madam would undoubtedly figure out that Meena Ainslie was really Reanna Starfield and then would, undoubtedly, start torturing Reanna again.

Along with the revelation of her eye dye coming out, she realized her hair dye wouldn't last much longer either. It lasted longer than the eye dye, but because of this, she hadn't refreshed the colour when she had done her eyes and it was coming out.

"Oh, I'm in trouble." Meena moaned to herself.

* * *

As it turned out, Meena was up and around within a week. She was lucky enough to find some boot polish to rub in her hair to make it black, but there was nothing she could do for her eyes. They were going to become ice blue no matter what she did and it was only a matter of time before she was found out.

To keep from being discovered so soon, Meena didn't socialize with anyone as much as she used to. Instead, after she sent off a discreet transmission, she explored the building, to see where her plan would be best executed, and found out it was a huge mansion by a gigantic lake. And as all huge mansions had, this one had many places where nobody other than Madam was supposed to go. This made Meena extra curious and she made it a point to go to those places.

She found rooms that must have been used her Madam's cloning operation, rooms full of plans for after the Empire was conquered, Madam's quarters, and on the last day she explored, she found a small nursery with a tiny little girl inside.

Meena was just going to turn and leave, but then the girl's eyes opened and she started whimpering and reaching for Meena, so she took pity on the child and picked the infant up.

"Hey," Meena stroked the child's auburn hair. "what's a cute little thing like you doing in such a horrible place?"

The little girl snuggled up against Meena's chest and just sat there. Looking down at the girl, Meena noticed a tiny bump on the child's left arm. On closer inspection, she realized it was caused by one of those transmitters that caused seizure. That meant the infant was a prisoner of Madam's.

"Oh, you poor little thing," Meena gently rocked back and forth. "Don't worry, I'll get you out of here. Everything will be all right."

The little girl fell asleep and Meena gently laid her in the crib. Then, Meena left the nursery as if she had never been there and went back to the mess hall where everyone was going for lunch.

She picked up one of the trays and looked at what was on the menu for the day. Salad, sandwiches, and juice. Not really the kind of meal she was crazy for, but it was better than what the base cafeteria had served, so she wasn't complaining.

"Hey, Meena!" Jason waved her over to his table after she had filled her tray. "Where have you been these last few days? I haven't seen you since we got here!"

"I've just been going from one place to another trying to find something to do," Meena said. "I'm not feeling the greatest right now and I just wanted to be alone."

"Oh. Well, Madam wants to talk to you tomorrow morning. I suggest you don't wonder off. She can get pretty nasty if she is kept waiting."

"I'll keep that in mind," Meena stabbed one of the pieces of fruit in her salad with her fork. "I don't really feel like having someone annoyed with me over such a trivial thing."

"Madam doesn't believe being kept waiting is a trivial thing, she is likely to call it an offence against the rebellion. I really think it would be best if you were compliant with her orders."

"So Jason, what do you think of Madam? Is she someone I should be scared to meet or completely relaxed about?"

"She is a little intimidating. But there is nothing to worry about. Just answer her questions, and you'll be fine." Jason assured her as he looked around the mess hall as if looking for someone.

"Looking for Lindy?"

"Yes. We were going to discuss the layout for a small base Madam wants to build underneath this mansion, but it appears she had other business to attend to."

Meena nearly smiled at the disappointment she heard in his voice. He and Lindy were so right for each other. She just couldn't wait to see them when they realized it.

"Private Ainslie?" Meena froze at the sound of a voice she had come to hate over the last few months. Madam seemed to always come at just the wrong time. This was far too early and Madam would recognize Meena the second she looked into her eyes.

"Yes?" Meena said slowly her hand resting lightly on her thigh right below her blaster. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

"I am Madam. I wanted to ask you some questions," Madam's voice was a little too pleasant. "Nobody ever seems to know where you are so I thought I'd catch you right now. Walk with me?"

Meena's hair stood on end as she slowly stood up and followed Madam out of the room. They walked in silence and that gave time for Meena's mind to start running a mile a minute. Now was definitely not the time for anyone to find out that Reanna Starfield was in the base. True Reanna was Mianna's Starfield's sister, but there was a long file on Reanna about supposed crimes she had committed against the rebellion and an order to shoot her on sight. Of course, at the very end of the file there was a blinking word flashing: _Exterminated. _So not many people would be on the lookout for her.

"I hear you injured yourself in the caves while trying to prevent the escape of the imperial spy," Madam seemed too at ease. "Very admirable. I hope you are feeling better?"

"Much. It was just a few bruised ribs."

"But received in the line of duty," Meena almost stiffened when Madam opened the doors to her own private quarters. "Everyone on your team keeps telling me that you were unconscious from the time you passed out to a day after you got here and that you wouldn't know anything about what happened. But I've heard that even unconscious people have a slight awareness with reality. Do you remember anything you thought you dreamt?"

"I thought I was dreaming about a closet, but I'm not sure that is the information you really want." Meena really hoped that Madam wouldn't push the subject. She could remember Kade's voice somewhere in her dreams, but she wasn't about to tell Madam that. "I can assure you I don't remember anything about the trip here."

"You know, Private Ainslie," Madam said as she sat down on one of her sofas. "I heard a strange thing about you. Captain Jason said that you had some of the deepest sea-grey eyes he'd ever seen. But he appears to be mistaken because I am looking at them right now and anyone can see that they are a very deep blue."

"People can be mistaken." Meena sat down on the sofa across from Madam and crossed her legs to the thigh with her blaster on top.

"Yes. But Jason is paid to notice every single detail about a person and to get it right. For him to make such a mistake is very unlikely."

"There is always a first time."

"I don't think so. Now tell me, are you Reanna or Abigail?"

"Who or who?"

"Reanna than. So tell me, how is Master Kade doing?"

"He's fine. A little sick of the war mind you, but, other than that, still alive. How have my clones been doing? Still on tests to see why they didn't turn out all right?"

"Don't see why'd you care."

"I don't. But I do know why none of them can turn out correctly."

"Why?"

"They're not me," Reanna drew her blaster and pointed it at Madam's chest. "Couldn't you have waited just three more days to catch me? Three more was all I was asking. Now my only question is how I'm supposed to keep everyone here from noticing their leader has been put out of commission until the Empire can get here."

"Do you honestly think I'm stupid enough to let you in here with a weapon without planning ahead?"

"Yes. If I did truly fool you which I think I might have. You have been perfectly relaxed up 'til you noticed what colour my eyes are. Now if you'll kindly stand up and spread your arms so I can search you properly. And please don't try anything, Kade has made sure that I can defend myself without touching my attacker, so I highly recommend you cooperate."

Madam grudgingly stood up and spread her arms like she had been told to do. Reanna slipped the blaster into her holster, but used the Force to pick up a heavy trophy in case Madam tried something. Then she searched Madam from top to bottom looking for any hidden weapons or triggers. This was way to early to be executing her plan, but she had no choice but to act now. It was either this or die.

"Well, well, well, what is this little piece of treasure? A switch for a transmitter? And who would this be for?"

"How are you going to keep this quiet? Everyone in this mansion is loyal to me and will do everything in their power to make sure that you won't leave this planet alive."

"That is a problem unless you put a certain detention cell under quarantine because of a contagious disease and you send everybody to their quarters while a person with the disease is taken there."

"What makes you think I would do that?" Madam asked a little enraged.

"Because I know that you care more about your miserable life than you do this rebellion," Reanna stood up and twisted Madam's arms painfully behind her back and bound them with a thick cord she found. "Now where is your intercom control?"

"In the study," Madam nodded towards the door furthest from the sofa. "But I'm not giving the order. I will tell them you are threatening to kill me and they'll come and kill you."

"And come in to find a dead leader and me gone to the hanger to get a ship to take me to the nearest Imperial garrison I can find. Master Kade is already on his way here anyways. So do you want to die now or wait for your trial and have a chance at living out the rest of your life? I am fine with right now, but if you want to wait, that is also fine by me."

Madam set up the intercom and gave the order for everyone to go to their rooms until further notice. Then, she didn't make a sound when Reanna forced her into one of the cells on the detention level.

_Why do I have a bad feeling Madam has something planned?"_ Reanna asked herself as she left the cell.

(^)

There was one thing Mira could say about the planet Tynan had left her on, it was beautiful. The air was fresh, the water was clearer and purer than any other water she had seen before, the landscape was more colourful and glorious than anything that Orlo had ever had to offer to its people. The planets people were no less amazing. They were all taller than any human could ever be, but that was the only similarity between them. All of the creatures were as different as night or day. None looked remotely the same.

Mira had met Master Rives the first day and had hated the creature the second she saw his face. His skin was pure black, and were a stark contrast with his white eyes. Like all the rest of the creatures, he stood at least three heads taller than her.

Now, Mira was always cautious about everyone she met, but there was something in Master Rives eyes that told Mira that he was not to be trusted and that she had to be very careful around him as long as Tynan wasn't here.

"To think that I actually wouldn't mind having him around right now," Mira laughed to herself one evening as she prepared for bed after a long dinner with Master Rives and his wife Lady. "What a strange galaxy we live in."

Mira self consciously rubbed the collar around her neck. She had noticed a small rash growing from beneath the metal and could barely keep from scratching it sometimes it got so itchy.

"Stupid collar!" Mira grabbed a bottle of lotion and spread some over the rash as best she could. She suspected the irritation was caused from not being able to wash under the collar. "Does everyone who has to wear these have this problem, or is it reserved for me only?"

"What problem?" Mira jumped at the sound of Tynan's voice. She spun around and saw him leaning leisurely against the door jam.

"How long have you been standing there?" Mira snapped angrily as she pulled on her robe. She really hoped he hadn't heard her say she what she had said about him a few minutes ago.

"Long enough to see that you need a short break from the collar," Tynan waved his hand and, to Mira's surprise, the offending collar came loose. "Don't try anything. I really don't feel like hurting you at the moment."

Mira said nothing as she pulled the collar and rubbed the raw skin of her neck. It felt so nice to be free of the ring of metal that had prevented her escape.

"What do you want?"

"To see my main lady before I turn in for the night."

"Oh, I hate you." Mira turned and walked over to her window and remembered too late that she shouldn't turn her back when Tynan was in the room. She didn't even bother trying to fight as his arms slid around her and his chin rested on her head. "Well, you've seen me, now go away."

"I always enjoy hearing your retorts after a hard day of work," Tynan could easily feel Mira go tense under his touch. "Though I truly wonder if you would make them if I put you back on torture."

"Probably. I've always been told I let my tongue run away in the worst of circumstances."

"I am honestly not very surprised. I believe you've had enough free time for now," the dreaded collar was back in it's place in an instant. "Night, Mira."

Tynan left the room and Mira immediately went to the 'fresher. As she stared in the mirror, she finally decided she'd had enough of her captivity and reached up to the metal scale at the very bottom of her cheek. She worked one of her nails underneath and started to pry it away. Blood started to trickle slowly, then it began flowing as the scale came free and worked the next few loose.

Soon, Mira's face, hands, and the counter were covered in her blood, but she kept on pulling the scales free. She was feeling light headed and weak by the time the last scale came free. She stared at her reflection and opened her blind eye. She was completely hideous without the scales and eye patch.

Tears had started mixing with her blood by the time she passed out.

* * *

Malashia had served in Master Rives' home since she was a small child and had never thought one of her daily routine would deviate from it's normal way. Of course, she had never served a human woman before.

As soon as she was certain everyone had gone to bed, she went to gather up the laundry from all the bedrooms as she always did. First, she went to Master Rives and Lady's room, then Master Deelan's, and lastly, the girl Master Deelan had brought with him.

Malashia entered the room and immediately noticed that the bed was empty and the 'fresher light was on. Curious as to what the human would be doing so late, she went over and peeked in.

A scream tore from her throat when she saw the woman laying on the floor, half of her face shredded and bleeding, and unconscious. Another scream soon followed the first.

Tynan startled awake when the first scream reached his ears. He shot up, immediately grabbed his weapons, and rushed out into the hall. The second scream told him the direction from where the first one came from, and he soon found himself in Mira's room with a historical maid speaking in her language to fast for him to understand.

"Calm down," Tynan ordered. "Now, where is the woman?"

"'fresher." The maid pointed to the lightened room.

Tynan rushed into the 'fresher and almost gagged at the sight before him. Mira had torn every scale from her face bit by bit and had let herself bleed. And bleed she had.

Tynan scooped Mira up into his arms and took her to the medical bay. When he got there, the doctors and nurses accepted Mira into the operation room right away to try and stop the bleeding. After only a few minutes, one of the doctors came out.

"Master Deelan, there is no way we can fix her face right now without her bleeding to death," the doctor folded his chestnut brown coloured hands and shifted uncomfortably. "But if we put the scales back on her face for now and wait a few days for it to heal a little, we can start fixing her face and put it back to the way it was before."

"Do it. And is there any way you could fix her right eye?"

"Of course!" the doctor sounded indignant. "It's a very simple surgery. We just-"

"I don't care how it's done, just get her sight back and her face fixed," Tynan ordered. "I'll be back in the morning to check on her. How much is this going to cost?"

"I'd estimate about fifteen thousand Daintos," the doctor didn't miss a beat. "But I'm sure Master Rives will make an exception for you."

"No. We may be close friends, but his closest friend is his money," an idea formed in Tynan's mind. "I will pay it, but it will be over a few months and in small amounts."

The doctor nodded and went back into the operation room. Tynan went back to his quarters and decided to take a long shower to get all of Mira's blood off of himself. He was a little surprised about the metal scales actually being apart of Mira's face. He had thought that she had stuck them to her face to make herself more intimidating, but to have actually been forced to wear them or bleed to death was a different idea to him. A very different idea. An idea that gave him a brand new viewpoint on Mira Sunburner.

(^)

"Are you almost ready to travel?" Lona asked a very tired looking Gence after he finished another session in the bacta tank. His hair was still slightly damp and his eyes were drooping. "The authorities are going to be here soon and I don't really fancy a trip to Couroscant right now."

"Three more trips to the tank and I'll be just strong enough to travel. But if we leave right away we'll have to make some stops at other medical centres to put me into another tank for a few hours. And even with those sessions, though I'll be strong enough to travel, I'll be too weak to do anything else but rest."

"That's fine. As long as you don't interfere with any of my bounties and are able to walk when we meet up with Mira. I've been mauling it over and I've decided that Mira probably didn't respond because she is doing some jobs. I'll just send the signal to _Starlight_ and we'll meet her on Orlo in two weeks."

Gence nodded and leaned back on his bed. What Lona said made sense. Mira wasn't one to waste time talking on a comlink when she had work to do. So there probably wasn't anything to worry about and Mira was probably going to scold them senseless for being so late. But it would be good to see her again. The had always been close and had been trying to keep in close touch, so not hearing from each other for who knows how long was difficult to get used to.

"Everything will be all right, Gence," Lona assured herself more than her friend. "The Empire has no idea what either of us truly look like or who we are. All they know is that a man and woman broke into the Emperor's office and tried to assassinate him. They may know Striker was there, but you aren't very famous and it is known that they can't trace assassins without getting the wrong person. There are just too many unknowns to be able to tell exactly who is at fault."

"You're right. How far is Orlo from here?"

"About two days fly from here. Why?"

"My father's estate is settled and I should get back there before I'm declared dead and start running things. Just drop me off there and we'll pretend this whole thing never happened."

"I am in perfect agreement with that," Lona stood up. "Striker will start up her career again and make an appearance at one of the Imperial garrisons very mad at an impersonator that has been popping up everywhere. The impersonator played be Mira, of course."

Lona walked out of the room and to the hanger to look over the piece of junk people had the audacity to call a ship. It was nothing more than a bucket of bolts put together in the most bizarre fashion of in the remote shape of a ship.

It was a far cry from the _Starlight_, but Lona wouldn't use it more than thrice if things went well. It had cost her way more than it was worth and she wouldn't have even looked at it if she'd had a choice between this or any other ship, she would have taken the other ship. But, as it turned out, it was the only ship that the medical centre owned and they used needing money to stay open as an excuse to be able to sell the junk for a much higher price than it was worth. Too much more. It was highway robbery, but Lona had no other choice, considering Gence's ship had been smashed beyond repair.

"Loma, please don't go!" Jade ran up to Lona with tears in her big hazel eyes. "Please don't go!"

"Hey, I'm not going anywhere. At least, not for four more days at least," Lona ran her fingers through the redhead's soft hair. "And you might want to start calling me Lona. Where's your father?"

Jade shrugged and gave a small devious smile. "No where."

"Jade, what did you do?" Lona had a really, really bad feeling about what the answer would be.

"Nothing. He went into the dark room by himself," Jade sounded very smug. "And he shut the door."

"Why was he in the dark room in the first place?"

"He was looking for Edna."

"And why did he think Edna was in the dark room in the first place?"

"I told him she was."

Lona shook her head as she started in the direction of the E-ray room. The room locked from the outside and was almost impossible to get out of when locked. The lights were also on the wall just outside of the room and if not turned on, the room was pitch black. Needless to say, it was terrible to be trapped inside if you weren't familiar with the place. And if you were also a spineless coward like Jade's father was, it was downright traumatizing.

She winced when she heard the pounding on the door and braced herself when the door slid open. Jade's father stepped out of the room with his chest heaving and his face a dark storm of rage.

"Where is Jade?" He screamed in Lona's face.

"I left her back at the hanger, but she's long gone from there by now. Even if I did know where she was, I don't think I would tell you while you're in this current state."

"I am perfectly fine! But Jade won't be when I find her!" He stomped off in search of his mischievous daughter.

_Maybe I should have left him in the dark room._ Lona thought as she shuffled off towards the ship. _Then he might have died of a blown head from all the rage pent up inside him._

* * *

Lona mostly forgot about the incident as the day wore on and was getting to bed when she found Jade curled up in her bed bruised and sobbing in pain.

"Jade! What happened to you?" Lona picked up Jade and carried her to the 'fresher. "Don't worry, I'll get some bacta and you'll be feeling better soon."

"Loma, don't leave me!" Jade sobbed as she let Lona lift the hem of her shirt to see the rest of the bruises. "Don't leave me with Him! He hurt me! He hurt me bad!"

"I can see that," Lona peeled Jade's shirt off to get better access to the bruises. "Jade, I can't take you without getting in trouble. But if you tell the men that are coming about what your father did to you, and show them these bruises, they'll make sure he won't ever hurt you again." Lona stopped treating the bruises. It would leave Jade in pain, but if there were no signs of bruising when the authority arrived, they wouldn't believe the little girl and leave without doing anything for her.

"Come on, Jade," Lona put the shirt back on Jade and lifted the toddler into her arms. Then she started humming softly as she carried Jade to the bed. "You'll sleep with me tonight."

(^)

Kade felt his muscles start to relax as he slowly lost himself to the Force. He really needed it to figure out a plan as to how he was going to get to Naboo in less than four days and still be able to find the mansion in time to take over the situation from Reanna. She said she had sent the exact location of where it was, but the transmission cut out just as she was going to give them, or the coordinates never made it to the computer terminal when she did send them later on. Either way, there was no way to locate the mansion and not get there until hours after Madam had fled the coop. They were most definitely stuck.

Reanna and Millie were both in very precarious positions. Reanna was about to be discovered by one of the cruellest people in the galaxy, and Millie could die any second if Madam suspected even the slightest bit of treachery against herself. And three Imperial warships in the system would scream of Mianna's betrayal.

"Blast!" Kade clenched his left hand and felt satisfied as he heard the sound of one of the wine glasses on the table shattering. He was becoming so frustrated with all of this. The means to end the war were almost within his grasp, but, if he didn't act quickly, the chance could be lost. And if he acted too quickly, the lives of many would be on his hands. "If only I could just speak and things would happen. That would be very handy and I wouldn't be stuck here trying to figure out the best plan of action!"

Another glass shattered as Kade clenched his other hand and let the energy of the dark side of the Force swirl around him. It felt so good to just let everything go and allow your darker emotions to take over. He had tried to beat the dark side back before, but he found it didn't take long for it to coma back and wrap it's dark tendrils around him and pull him back into the mirky pit of sludge he never seemed to be able to stay out of for more than three years at best. And only two months at worst. This time it had only been a year since the last time he had knowingly tapped into the dark side and he had forgotten how powerful it felt.

It was almost like the whole galaxy's energy was running through his veins and was his to chose at whether it was allowed to continue or not. He was able to reach new depths of understanding the behaviour and ways of every creature that had ever lived. He could also understand the movement of every planet, star, and moon.

Kade sometimes had to wonder at his stupidity at refusing to use the dark side. He could be more focused and able to come up with a plan when he just gave in. It was helping the galaxy when he did it. There was no reason for him to not use it.

"Master Kade, do you have a plan of attack?" Mianna Starfield asked when Kade entered her cell to ask her a few questions.

"Not yet," Kade said simply. "Where exactly is Madam's mansion? There is no way I could possibly get Millie and Reanna safely out of there and still capture Madam."

"Reanna is there as well?" Mianna's eyes widened and she felt her knees weaken. Madam had very detailed plans on what she would do to Reanna the day she found the eighteen-year-old. "Please tell me Madam has no clue about how close Reanna is to her! The results will be very disastrous if the answer is yes."

"Your sister is safe at this direct moment, but she said that she forgot the dye she was using for her eyes back at the base and the stuff is really starting to wear off. She said that it'll be less than two days before her eyes are just as blue as the day she was born. She needs us there exactly on time or when her cover is blown the picture isn't going to be pretty."

"It's by a lake called… Oh, she just told me right before I left!" Mianna placed both hands at the sides of her head. "It started with an A. I should remember this!"

"Here," Kade replaced her hands with his and used the Force to help clear her mind from everything else she was trying to remember. "Now try to remember."

"Audrene." Mianna said after a few seconds of thinking. "She said the lake was called Audrene and her mansion is one mile from the south shore."

"Thank-you. Don't worry about a thing now. Reanna has made a good plan on how to capture Madam and there'll be no reason for Madam to suspect you had anything to do with it. Millie is going to be perfectly all right when we get there."

"Master Kade, when this is all over could you please do me a favour and make sure Reanna is returned home to Ondo. She can do whatever she wants after she spends at least a week there to clear up the misunderstanding of her death."

"Fine." Kade agreed.

Mianna stepped back and sat down on the cot. She had spoken to Kade as much as she wanted and wasn't about to speak to him again until Millie and Reanna were safely away from Madam's clutches.

Kade realized she wasn't going to say anything more to him even if the galaxy was falling and she alone could save it, so he left and went up to the bridge to give Admiral Sor'ini the orders to set course for Naboo and to find out everything they could about the mansion near the lake Audrene. He did not want to go there completely unaware about what he was walking into.

"Master Kade, there is a transmission coming in from Naboo. A young woman calling herself Reanna Starfield says she needs to speak with you immediately." One of the troops informed him.

"Have the communications room cleared out and make sure I am not disturbed," Kade ordered redirecting his footsteps towards the communications room. "And tell Admiral Sor'ini I want this ship heading towards Naboo by the end of the hour."

"Yes, sire." The troop went to follow their orders.

When Kade got there, Reanna was looking impatient enough to blow her top off. She immediately started talking when she saw him standing in front of her.

"Kade, could you possibly do me a favour and get here as soon as your ships will get you here?" she looked a little worried. "My cover was blown and I'm keeping Madam in one of the cells and living in her quarters, as well as mine, to keep anyone from getting suspicious. But I can only keep up the act for so long."

"We'll get there as soon as the ship can make it," Kade promised. "Your sister is on the edge of her sanity with all this waiting. Rea, is there a little girl there? She's about seven months old and has blue eyes and auburn hair like yours."

"Yes. I found her a little while ago. Why?"

"When you put Madam in the cell, did you search her and find a small transmitter?"

"Yes."

"Reanna, whatever you do, do not lose the transmitter. That little girl's life depends on that thing not going off!" Kade wished he could get there within the hour instead of the whole day it was going to take. "And when we raid the mansion, get that little girl out of there as soon as you can and get her onto the ship."

"Fine. Just get here as soon as you can."

"I will. I promise."

* * *

I really don't have anything to say this time. Well, nothing but if you have any ideas, questions, likes, or dislikes, REVIEW.


	5. Chapter 5

Reanna was definitely worried. Everyone was noticing the change in her eye colour and the absence of Madam. She heard the whispers of speculation everyone was whispering to each other and knew the jig was up. The rebels were only waiting for the perfect moment to accuse her of treachery, try her, and then execute her. They were only holding back because Madam was missing and they didn't have the slightest clue on where to look for her.

That was most of the rebels. But Lindy seemed not to care at all the Reanna didn't seem to be who she said she was. In fact, she seemed to like the idea of her friend being undercover.

"So, if you aren't Meena Ainslie, who are you?" Lindy asked more excited than ever.

"Meena Ainslie," Reanna looked down at the data pad she was holding as she wandered through the basement of the mansion looking to see if there was anything else Madam was trying to hide. "Who else would I be?"

"I don't know. Everyone is talking about how you somehow managed to capture Madam and make her vanish. And your eye colour is much more vibrant than ever before."

"I got tired of the old brown look so I died them blue. But then when I decided to join the rebellion, I realized that they wouldn't accept me if my eyes weren't the same colour now as they were on my profile. I just forgot to bring my eye dye with me when we went on that mission."

"But what about Madam's disappearance? You were the last one to see or hear from her. So everyone has to assume…"

"I was not the last person to hear from her! She gave a message over the intercom a few minutes after I left," Reanna opened one of the doors and stepped in. "OH! FORCE!" Reanna spun around and slammed the door behind herself trying hard not to retch.

"What's wrong, Meena?" Lindy asked worried.

"It- OH!" Reanna turned away and really threw up this time. "Do not go in there!"

"Meena, what did you see?"

"I- I have to go. Trust me when I say that you do not want to go in there. You go in there and you will never sleep again!" Reanna ran up to the stairs and entered the detention level.

As soon as Reanna was out of sight, Lindy turned to the door and opened it even though she had been warned against it. The sight before her made her follow her friends actions and was soon losing all of her breakfast onto the floor.

The room was where Madam had started to try and get rid of all the evidence of her cloning operation. Or, more specifically, all of the clones she had made of Reanna Starfield. Seven of them were in the room with their throats and stomachs slit open.

"Lindy? Lindy, are you there?" Jason's voice broke the heavy silence around her. "Lindy?"

"H- Here, Jason." Lindy bent over again and threw up even more.

"Lindy, you look awful! What happened?" His hands were suddenly on her shoulders.

"Did you see Meena?" Lindy felt her tears flooding from her eyes.

"No. But Madam was just found in one of the cells taking a beating from Meena. The traitor has been sentenced to execution in three hours." Lindy noticed the furious light shining in Jason's eyes.

"Execution!" Lindy exclaimed horrified. "She can't be executed!"

"She is an Imperial spy and a traitor!"

Lindy turned and ran up the stairs to the detention floor like Meena had a little while before. She sat down at the computer and looked for Meena's cell number. Unfortunately, it appeared that Meena was being taken to her execution early.

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no!" Lindy moaned as she stood up and started running towards the room where executions were always held. If there was anyone who should be being killed, it should be Madam. At least Meena had actually believed in her cause.

Executions were a horrible affair. The room had a pool of extreme depth and five feet around in the centre. Covering the pool was a large wooden platform with a small, invisible, trap door in the centre. The person being executed would stand on the platform just where the trapdoor was to supposedly hear the sentence for their crime. As soon as the word death was said, the trapdoor would drop out from under the person and then would close trapping the prisoner to a watery death.

Lindy got into the room just in time to see Meena go under and then, suddenly, the wooden platform was ripped from its holdings and a man was diving in after Meena.

She kept her eyes riveted on the pool and didn't notice the Imperial troops beginning to take everyone in the room captive. She just watched the rippling pool, hoping that the man, whoever he was, would save Meena from dying such a terrible death as a traitor.

* * *

Reanna felt her heart in her throat as she stood on the out of place wooden platform. She could feel the Force telling her that something bad was about to happen, but she couldn't call on it to find out where the danger was coming from.

It was a truly terrifying thing to be able to sense things through the Force and yet not be able use it. It frightened her more than anything had ever frightened her before.

Madam was just finishing up babbling on about whatever she was babbling about when Reanna sensed a familiar presence nearby. A small smile spread up over Reanna's narrow features. She almost decided to try and taunt Madam, but the floor suddenly dropped our from under her and her world was suddenly cold, wet, and dark.

Being so unprepared for it, she immediately panicked. By the time she remembered that thrashing around in an enclosed pool only ever served to confuse a person on which way was up or down, it was already too late.

She couldn't hold her breath anymore and began swallowing water. As her consciousness slowly began to leave her, she felt a strong arm wrap around her waist and start to pull her up.

They broke the surface and Reanna immediately started coughing up much of the water that had started to get into her lungs. She felt herself lifted up onto the shore and her rescuer lift himself up as well and lay himself beside her. Then she felt his hands push her now auburn hair from her face and his lips drop a kiss on her forehead.

"Rea, are you all right?" Kade asked as he stood up and pulled her up with him.

"Oh, Kade!" Reanna threw her arms around Kade's neck and buried her face in his chest as she started to sob. "I didn't realize what was going on until I fell through!"

"Hush, it's all right now," Kade reassured her as he stroked her soaked hair. "Your safe. Everything is all right now."

"Please, just get me out off here and off of this planet!" Reanna was shaking uncontrollably.

* * *

Hours later, Reanna was resting comfortably in her quarters and Kade was speaking with his head spy about incriminating files he had sent her undercover to retrieve.

"You're sure you have everything I sent you to get, Quinlan?" Kade asked. "If one file doesn't match up with the rest, the whole case could be blown out of proportion!"

"Don't worry, Master Kade," Quinlan brushed back a strand of her newly dyed, chestnut brown hair from her face. "I spent enough time in the rebellion to know whether I got the right files or not. To be honest, I was getting a little worried that Madam would recognize me. My Lindy disguise wasn't the best I have ever seen, and I was starting to draw the attentions of one of the officers."

"Well, got there soon enough. Now can you tell me how Reanna was found out? I know her eyes were blue and her hair was a little too greasy, but she would have found a way to keep people from noticing."

"Well, no one would have noticed if Madam hadn't suddenly disappeared for half a week. Reanna was the last one to see her and so she was a high suspect on the list. It was confirmed she was the one responsible for it when she lost her temper and started beating Madam to a pulp. That's the reason why they decided to try and execute her so soon after they found Madam."

"I can't believe they really drowned the spies they found," Kade had a feeling Reanna was going to be wary of water from now on. "Out of all the cruel things to do!"

"It made disposing of them easier," Quinlan rubbed the back of her neck where the scar from Kade removing the transmitter without waiting for the medical team to arrive. "Just toss them in a random lake and it can't be traced."

"Another charge to press against the nasty woman," Kade dropped the files onto is desk and started digging around in the top drawer. "So, you are going to need your security clearance and your ID back. Just tell everyone you were on leave recovering from your seizures."

"Alright," Quinlan gave a small smile as Kade held out her ID, security pass, and rank badge. She hadn't thought she would ever get those things back. "Thank-you sir."

* * *

"Kade?" Reanna knew he usually back by this time and so went to his quarters to see if he was there. "Kade, are you here?"

"In the kitchen," Kade responded. "You hungry?"

"No," Reanna walked into the kitchen and plopped down onto one of the chairs around the table. "Kade, have you ever been held under water for any period of time?"

"It was part of my military training. Why?"

"Do you have nightmares about it?"

"No. I never have. But, then again, I wasn't held under water without knowing I would be able to come up for air again," Kade walked over to Reanna and put his hand on her shoulder. "Are you feeling all right?"

"I just want to crawl into a dark hole where no one can find me and sleep for a year," Reanna folded her arms on the table and rested her head on them."

"Your sister wants you to spend some time back on Ondo," Kade started gently massaging the bottom of her neck and her shoulders. "I think I am inclined to agree with her. Take some time to relax and finish healing. Your ribs and lungs have been taking a severe beating. I'll drop you off on the way to Couroscant."

Reanna nodded and just sat there enjoying the feel of her tense muscles loosening. She was really in no mood to argue with him, even if he was making the decision for her. She was just so glad the drama was over and she could finally start doing what she had been meaning to do for the last year now. Bounty-hunting.

"Rea?"

"Mm?"

"Do you think you could eat something?"

"No."

"Well, can you at least try to eat something anyways," Kade left off massaging Reanna's stiff neck and shoulders to go and get the dishes from the cupboard. "I made up some-"

"I think I liked you better when you were over here helping me relax," Reanna grumbled a little disappointed at the loss of his warm hands working the knots out of her muscles. "You are kind of acting like I have an obligation to listen to you."

"Habit," Kade put a bowl of stew in front of her and sat down to his own. "A very good habit, may I tell you. It's kept you alive and healthy quite a few times."

Reanna rolled her eyes and grudgingly picked up the spoon and took a small a bit of her stew. It was delicious, but Reanna was in too bad a mood to notice. She just wanted to curl up in a warm place and sleep, or sit there with Kade massaging her back. Not sitting there eating food she didn't feel her body needed.

"You didn't sleep this afternoon like I told you to, did you?" Kade realized the reason she was looking twice as tired than before was because she disobeyed him. "Rea, you need rest if you want to stay healthy enough to be a bounty-hunter."

"Kade, could you sleep if you saw hundreds of people dying every time you close your eyes?" Reanna asked harshly. "Because that is what I see when I close mine! I haven't been able to sleep well since before I joined the rebellion!"

"Reanna, just eat for now and we'll talk about it later."

Reanna ate the stew obediently and sighed when she finished it. She didn't want to make Kade angry at her, she had heard that angering him these days was a sad mistake for anyone. She had never tipped it before herself, but she didn't think it would be best to find out about his temper for herself.

Kade picked up the dishes and took them over to the sink as soon as he was sure Reanna had finished everything he had given her and then put them away after he was done washing and drying them. All the while, Reanna sat at the table with her eyes closed and her head resting on her arms. It was so good to feel safe and not have to worry about being discovered by any passing rebel who happened to notice something wrong with her appearance.

Kade walked over to Reanna and stroked her long hair. Reanna opened her eyes and stood up. Kade wrapped his arm around her waist and lead her out into the main room. They sat down on the couch and Kade immediately sent a small sleep suggestion to her and let her rest her head on his chest. She was soon breathing deeply and evenly and her eyes were closed.

Seeing that she was asleep, Kade brought her closer to himself and rested his chin on her head. A tears slipped from his eye as he thought about what he had seen in the vision he had been experiencing.

_Reanna in his arms as her blood pooled on the floor. She reached up and ran her hand down his face as her mouth opened and words started to fall from her chapped lips_

"_I still love you." She whispered as she stared deeply into his eyes. Then, the life faded from her icy blue eyes, the breath left her lungs, and her body went limp. She was dead and it was all because of him._

"Do me a favour, Reanna," he whispered quietly to the sleeping woman. "Don't go and die."

* * *

Quinlan sighed depressingly as she pushed the button to open the cell that belonged to Jason. She really owed him an explanation as to why she had betrayed the rebellion the way she did, but that didn't make it any easier.

"What do you want, Lindy?" Jason's eyes flashed angrily and his voice was like a dagger driving into her chest.

"To talk," Quinlan stood straighter than a ruler. "First off, I am Lieutenant Quinlan of the first legion of the Empire. Second, I'm here to apologize for deceiving you and making you think I was someone I'm not. I owed a debt to Master Kade and that was the only way I could have possibly paid it off. And lastly, take my advice and tell Master Kade all you know. He is quite lenient towards those that are willing to cooperate."

"And why should I accept your apology or take your advice?" Jason spat seething with hate. "I trusted you and you turn out to be nothing more than a slimy traitor."

"Thank-you," Quinlan smiled. "Not many people believe that. They say I was too instrumental to the fall of the rebellion to possibly be a traitor, but in reality, I was a traitor to the Empire long before I was to the rebellion."

"Get out!" Jason threw his dinner bowl at Quinlan. She easily dodged it and opened the door.

"I'm sorry, Jason. But there is a lot more hope for things to be all right in the galaxy if we let the Emperor rule for the time being," Quinlan ripped a page out of the notebook she carried and tossed it over to Jason. "Think about it for a while."

When Quinlan left, Jason picked up the piece of paper and looked at it. It was an amazing sketch of a young man and woman. The man had a chiselled face and a grim expression. Though they were only mere drawings of them, the eyes emanated strength, and sternness, but were filled with compassion and kindness.

The woman's long hair had a slight curl to it, her face was long and narrow, her high cheekbones made her face look sharp. Her eyes seemed full of knowledge beyond her years, but were full of humour and happiness. A slight smile tugged at the edges of her mouth. Even though he had never seen her like this, he knew that it was Meena.

* * *

Reanna woke up with a horrid ache in her back, and laying on Kade's chest. She blushed and quickly jumped up away from Kade's arms. How could this possibly happen again? This was the second time she had woken up in his arms. The second time!

She decided it would probably be best if she went back to her quarters and started her morning how she normally would. By getting herself some breakfast and having a shower.

It would be better than spending the awkward moments she knew would for sure follow Kade's awakening in his side of the ship. She hated awkward moments and was ready to do anything to avoid them. Especially, when it involved her sleeping in his arms again.

So, she went to her living space and opened the refrigerator hoping to find something that wouldn't take very long to make and she would actually want to eat. She settled for eggs and turned on the stove. Soon, the smell of frying eggs hung heavy in the air and her stomach started growling furiously.

An hour later, Reanna was drying her hair and watching some of the news when Kade came in. He stood in the doorway for a minute watching her, and then he came over and sat down beside her on the couch.

"Did you sleep well?" Kade asked.

"Yes, actually," Reanna took the towel away from her damp hair and ran her fingures through it. "Though I did wake up with an awful ache in my back. I think I would like to sleep in my own bed instead of the couch."

"I was meaning to take you there, but I fell asleep before I could actually act on my thoughts," Kade glanced at the screen. "You know, your sister is sitting in her cell worried sick about you. She would like to see you before she goes to Couroscant for trial. And I think that would be a good idea. So, could you do it?"

"No," Reanna grabbed the brush and started running it through her hair. "Kade, you know what she tried to do the last time I talked to her? She tried prying into my personal feelings about someone! I'm sorry, but I don't feel like listening to her scold me about things she has no idea about."

"Reanna, your sister is facing at least twenty years in prison. The very least you could do is go talk to her for five minutes. Also, she wants to hand the family estates, business, and your niece's custody over to you."

"Niece? What niece? Since when have I had a niece?" Reanna asked truly confused. "Mianna doesn't have a child, does she?"

"No," Kade tried hard not to laugh at Reanna's reaction. "Hope had a baby before she was killed. A little girl named Millie. Millie is the little girl that you found in the mansion."

"That makes sense, I guess," Reanna tossed her hair up in a ponytail. "Hope was due any day when I was kidnapped, and the girl did look a lot like a Starfield. Kade, I can't look after a little girl! I plan to go bounty-hunting and that is no environment for raising children! I would have to leave her in a boarding school and that is also not a way to raise children!"

"Reanna, the girl has no other family," Kade pointed out. "If you won't take the responsibility of caring for Millie, she is going to end up stuck in foster care. She may be able to find a family, but the possibility is very low right now with all of the war orphans looking for homes. She is going to be kicked from home to home until she comes of age and then she is going to be on her own with no real knowledge on how to live like an upstanding citizen."

"Kade," Reanna whined. "Stop trying to guilt trip me! There is almost no possible way I could take care of her unless I took over my father's business and… you sneaky nexu! You don't want me to go into bounty-hunting so you are forcing a child on me!"

"That is not true at all!" Kade held up his hands in surrender. "Mianna doesn't want to see Millie thrown from place to place as if she was nothing more than an inconvenience. You'll probably make a much better living for yourself running the family business than bringing in wanted suspects."

"Fine." Reanna stood up. "Which cell is Mianna in?"

"123B. Just show the guard this and he'll comply without complaint." Kade handed her a small badge.

Reanna took the badge and left her quarters. She wanted to get the meeting over with as soon as possible so she wouldn't have Kade nagging her until she finally went along with it.

When she made it down to the detention levels, she made sure to show the badge Kade had given her and say exactly who she was there to meet. She looked around the cold grey walls and started to really feel bad about how most of the rebels were stuck in these cells, and she had her own private suite.

She soon got to the cell her sister was being held in. She stood outside the door for a few minutes working up the courage to listen to what her sister had to say to her.

When she finally built up enough, she took a deep breath and pushed the button.

"Mia?"

(^)

Lona felt terrible as she left the small medical centre. She really wanted to take Jade with her to keep the little girl safe, but she knew that wasn't possible if she wanted the authorities to take Jade away from him. Keeping the girl safe would have to wait until after the investigation and Lona bought the whole medical centre.

"Thinking about the little girl again?" Gence asked as he limped into the cockpit. "I never thought I'd see the day where you would meet someone you actually worry about none stop."

"Shut up," Lona prepped the ship for the jump to light speed. "Jade is one of the sweetest little girls I have ever met. Possibly even sweeter than the baby me and Mira kidnapped when we first got started."

"You kidnapped a baby?" Gence's eyebrows raised in shock.

"Yeah. Millie was Mira's best friend's niece and her family was just killed. Mira thought that Millie's only known living aunt couldn't take care of her properly and so we kidnapped her on spur of the moment. Mira lost half of her face because of it."

"So that's how it happened," Gence nodded in understanding. "Mira refused to tell me how she had lost her face. She said she didn't want to think about it, but I think it was more the fact that she knew I would go after the person that did it to her and assassinate them."

"And you think I wasn't too pleased when I found out you were an assassin," Lona reached into her pocket and pulled out her mask. She opened a small compartment under the console and shoved the piece of material into it. "I never asked you, but how does it feel to have no one, not even family, trust you?"

"I don't know," Gence said after a minute. "The only two family members who I ever told was Mira and my little brother. And both of them swore that they would never tell anyone unless they had my permission. They never really showed any signs of it if they didn't trust me."

"How long before we need to find you a bacta tank?" Lona asked as Gence grimaced and put a hand on his ribs.

"Noon tomorrow at the absolute latest," sleep was becoming hard to fight. "Any later and I'll reach critical condition."

"I can work that. Just tell me if you need to get there any sooner than tomorrow morning."

Gence nodded and his eyes fell closed. Soon he was sleeping deeply and Lona was again alone with her thoughts. Her mind seemed to go into fifty different directions, ranging from the question as to where her partner was, to how she could get rid of the Emperor and not get caught.

There was always going back there as her masked self and murdering him, but she would prefer to make her revenge on him a little more painful for him than simply a quick death. And she knew the way to do that was to kill his pride before she killed his body. She only had to figure out how exactly to kill the pride.

She thought it might be through his son, Master Kade. But she shot down the idea after remembering that he was the one responsible for saving Mira's life. Then she realized it could only be through one thing, the Emperor's complete and utter ruin. And in order for that to happen, she needed help. But it would have to wait for a while, at least until things were settled down in her life and in the galaxy.

In the meantime, Lona would send the signal to Mira's comlink, drop Gence off, and then go meet her partner. Then she would make sure to buy the medical centre as soon as the investigation was finished and it was up for sale.

"I do hope Mira shows up," Lona said to herself as she glanced at the man sleeping in the seat beside her. "If only for his sake. I honestly don't think he could go through losing another close family member."

Lona took out the comlink she had tried using to get a hold of Mira earlier, and dialled in the number she had told Mira to watch for. With that done, she sat back and tried to start relaxing, but it was impossible with the nagging feeling in the back of her mind. The feeling that told her Mira wasn't going to be there when she was supposed to be.

Of course, this seemed silly, but Lona had learned that she was better off all around if she trusted her feelings. But this was one of the times when she really wished her feelings were wrong.

"I don't care whether I didn't come in to make an appointment a week ahead of time!" Lona argued with the desk attendant. "My brother has to be in a bacta tank before noon today or he'll go into critical condition and he'll have to have to take a room that could instead be used for a patient that really needs one. All because you decided you didn't want to go against protocol when that is all it is! Now get me that bacta tank! Or do I have to use other methods of persuasion?"

"We'll be able to take him within the hour," the attendant gave a forced smile. "Your name Ms…?"

"Miss. Lona Starrider. My brother is Gence Starrider," Lona let out an exasperated sigh. "We'll be waiting over there, and if you somehow manage to forget we're waiting, I'll go in there and get the bacta tank working myself!"

Lona spun around and stalked over to where Gence was waiting. He looked pale and too weak. It was getting close to noon and Lona was getting worried. They had been waiting here all morning and Gence's condition had been worsening by the minute. Lona was about ready to forget about trying to work things out with the employees and force her way in when she had finally demanded that he get some attention.

"How are you holding up?" She asked letting worry creep into her voice.

"I thought I would have a little more time then this to get into a tank," his breathing was becoming laboured. "But it seems as if they meant noon exactly or I'll go into critical condition."

"Don't worry," Lona brushed a hand through her already messy hair. "They're going to get you in within the next hour or I'll make sure you get in! And not the way they'd prefer!"

"Calm down," Gence put a shaky hand on her shoulder. "Worse comes to worse and I'll pass out and they'll have to listen to you."

Lona gave a small smile and sat back. She had flown through the night and the urge to close her eyes and let her awareness of the world around her go was becoming almost impossible to resist. But she somehow managed to keep her eyes open until Gence was taken in to be put in the tank. Then, she gave in and allowed herself to start wondering in the truly strange land of dreams.

The sound of many booted feet marching into the waiting area and the loud voice of Lord Rane woke her from her needed sleep a few hours later. From the looks and sounds of him, he was not happy at all.

"I ordered that every bacta tank here be free when I arrived with my troops!" he was shouting angrily at the attendant. "So why is one of them in use?"

"I'm terribly sorry, sir. A woman came in this morning in desperate need of a bacta tank for her brother and we thought that he would be done before you arrived. He only has ten more minutes and then we'll be able to use it for one of your men."

"Well, get him out! Some of my men have been waiting for weeks to get some medical attention and what's a few minutes to him anyways?" Lona stood up and walked over.

"A few minutes to him?" she put her hands on her hips and glared angrily at the second most powerful man in the galaxy. "Well, I'll tell you. It only took a few minutes to crash on some forsaken piece of rock! It only took a few minutes for him to change from being almost dead to him recovering! And it took only a few minutes for him to go from having all the energy in the galaxy to being weak as a kitten! I'd say a few minutes is a lot to him!" Lona realized only after she finished saying all of that, that Lord Rane was said to be very hard to reason with when he was stressed, and by the looks of him now, he was more than a little stressed. But then she realized she would look very dumb if she left it at that. "I don't want to run the risk of him dying just because he was taken out of the tank too early!"

"I'm sorry, Ms…?"

"Miss. Starrider."

"Well, I'm sorry, Miss Starrider, but my men have needed medical attention for far too long and I have lost many of them already. I just don't want to lose any more. And, like you said, a few minutes could mean death for some of them."

"That doesn't matter to me," Lona again ran her hand through her hair. "I just want to know that my brother won't be needing to go into another tank until tomorrow morning," she turned to the attendant. "I'll be waiting over there when my brother is ready to leave."

Lona turned on her heels and went back to the seat she had been occupying before Lord Rane had entered the waiting room. She grabbed one of the holo magazines hanging around and started trying to focus on it. The look Lord Rane had given her was very unsettling. It was almost as if he recognized her, but that couldn't be possible. Lona had only ever met him as Striker and that meeting had been very brief. There was no possible way he could recognize her.

Lona had only been trying to read the magazine for a few minutes before she felt someone trying to probe her mind. The smart thing for her to do would be for her to let her shields down and let him see a few of her harmless memories, but she didn't feel like risking him seeing something that would point to her being the wanted fugitive who had tried to kill the Emperor. Then she would be arrested along with Gence.

So her shields remained up and she tried hard to ignore Lord Rane staring pointedly across the room at her. But every time she started to forget that he was there, he would brush against her mind and she would jump back into jumpy awareness of him. Finally, she got so frustrated with him, she jumped up and walked over to him.

"Would you quit it?" she angrily stood in front of him and glared up into his eyes. "If I wanted to you into my mind I would have when you first started probing! My mind is about the only thing I have in this forsaken galaxy and I am not about to let someone violate it because they are curious about me!"

"It's my job to probe the mind of every Force-sensitive that crosses my path," Lord Rane said as he signed one of the many forms he had in his hands. "And you are a controlled type of Force-sensitive that is very rare to se unless they are trained at least a little."

"I don't care what your job is or how my Force aura feels! Leave me alone!" Lona stomped over to the desk to find out how much longer Gence would be.

When Gence finally was ready to go, Lona wasted no time in getting him back to the ship and taking off. She wanted to spend as little time on the same planet with Lord Rane as she could. Something about the man just made her feel as if she should know something that wasn't possible for her to know. It infuriated her to no end.

"Something happen while I was in the tank?" Gence asked as soon as he felt she was calm enough to talk to.

"Lord Rane decided to monopolize all the bacta tanks in the medical centre, he almost had you taken out ten minutes earlier than was prescribed for you."

"Ten minutes? That wasn't much," Gence started towards the kitchen. "You should have let him have it. I only truly need half the time I spend in one. The other half is to boost my energy."

"Well, you need all the energy you can get," Lona put the ship on auto-pilot and followed him. "I'll be able to drop you off late tonight. As soon as I meet up with your cousin I'll bring her to you. Then, I'll go take care of some business and be back to pick her up again."

"I don't think she'll be too pleased with that plan," Gence said taking out some of the food out of the cupboard and started up the stove. "She's been waiting for quite a while to get back into the business and won't appreciate being left behind."

"She's been on my ship the whole time," Lona sat back and watched him. "_Starlight_ has an attitude towards anyone that isn't me. I do declare, if she's done anything to modify or damage my ship she'll live to regret it for the rest of her days!"

Gence chuckled and continued making lunch for the two of them. Lona didn't even try to help, knowing she was so horrible at cooking she could burn anything she put in on the stove. She was glad let Gence and Mira do all the cooking seeing as how they both seemed to have a gift when it came to working in the kitchen.

Deciding she should do something other than watch Gence cook, Lona turned and went to the engine room. It was nothing like her beloved _Starlight_, but it would be enough until she got her ship back. She started working on the old, beat up engines in an almost loving way, as she believed all machinery should be treated. Hitting and pounding on machinery only made it harder to keep it maintained.

After she finished with it, she went to the workbench and started fiddling with her lightsaber. There had to be a way to improve the balance in the hilt. Maybe if she put a little more weight on the ends it would work. Those were the places that were out of sorts.

She reached for the softest metal there was on board and took it over to the small furnace. Soon she had them on the ends of her lightsaber and immediately felt the difference. It had been a little too light before, but now it felt perfect. Though, she wouldn't know for certain until she used it. And hopefully she wouldn't have to.

"Lona, if you want to eat, you'd better get up here now!" Gence called from the kitchen.

"I'll be up in a minute." Lona put her modified weapon in the back of the bench and wasted no time in getting up to the kitchen. Now she could actually smell the food, she found her stomach protesting the absence of it not begin there and her mouth watering. Gence sure knew how to get her up there in no time. "I hope that the food tastes as good as it smells," she commented. "I don't think I could stand the disappointment if it wasn't. I'd absolutely die from it."

"It's better than anything you could ever concoct," Gence sat down at the tiny table. "And that should keep you from dying in disappointment alone."

"I hope so." Lona heaped her plate full of food and sat down with him.

"You should get some sleep," Gence said after a few moments silence. "You look like you've been run over by ten speeders, followed shortly by a herd of stampeding bantha."

"That good, huh?"

"There might be a little exaggeration in my description, but not much," he handed her the salt which she generously sprinkled onto her food. "Please tell me you got a little sleep when I was in the tank?"

"I slept for most of the time when you were in there," Lona assured him. "I only woke up when Lord Rane and his men marched in. I'll be fine."

"Yep, you will." Gence sat back and grinned roguishly.

Lona glanced down at the mostly finished plate of food and suddenly realized that the food tasted better than it had any right to be. Her eyes widened when she figured out that the man sitting across from her had somehow drugged the food.

"You big crook!" she shouted angrily. "How could you do it?"

"I didn't put anything into your food," Gence said defensively. "You put it in yourself."

"No, I didn't! How could I?"

"You didn't see me salt my food did you? You might as well finish your food. You only have ten minutes before the drug will take effect," Gence burst out laughing. "You should be sleeping on a full stomach anyways."

"You big crook." Lona said as she took another bite. She would humour him for now, but when she woke up from her sleep, she was going to make sure he suffered for it.

"I know," Gence picked a very drowsy Lona up from her seat and carried her to her cabin. "You'll be awake by the time we get to Orlo."

* * *

Please R&R!


	6. Chapter 6

_I have to stop letting all this drama get to me!_ Reanna thought as she walked out of her sister's cell. _Or it's going to end up ruining my life. Maybe doing as everyone tells me to will be a great relief._

It almost seemed as if there were people specifically made to make her life miserable. It seemed every time she had a chance to go off and start living peacefully without something happening to disrupt her plans. Maybe she should just give up and never make any kind of plans, and live in only the moment. That might be better all around.

Reanna had walked into the cell hoping that she wouldn't accept the job as owner of the family business and guardian of her new found niece. But she had walked out of the cell as both. All the papers were signed, and she would be able to take up all her new duties in exactly two weeks. Two weeks for her to get back to Ondo, settle in, and start her new job. It was a very terrifying idea, that she would be mentoring a little girl and running an entire business.

She kind of wished she had more time to adjust to the idea of being all that. More time to study up on what was expected of her now. And more time to be with Millie and get to know her at least a little bit.

Thinking of her young niece, Reanna decided to start spending time with the girl right now. So, she changed her direction and went to the small room in the medical ward Kade had put Millie in, on account that there was no where else to put the child.

When she got there, Millie was sitting in the small cot looking a little lost. Her eyes brightened as soon as she saw Reanna and she started giggling happily.

"Hi, Millie," Reanna smiled. "Remember me? My name is Aunt Rea. I'm going to be taking care of you for a while, I guess."

Millie gave a big smile and climbed down from the cot and started crawling towards Reanna. She stopped at her feet and looked up at Reanna expectantly.

Reanna couldn't keep herself from laughing and picking the little girl up. She suddenly had the feeling she was going to enjoy the next few years raising her sister's daughter.

A stab of remorse shot through her as she thought about how her older sister Hope couldn't be there to raise her daughter because Madam had ordered for one of her goons to murder Reanna's entire immediate family except for Mianna. Millie had barely survived when Hope's house collapsed on top of her.

"Well, you've really got the Starfield look, young lady," Reanna commented as she sat down on the cot with Millie on her lap. "I bet if I just glanced at you, I would think that you belonged to my parents instead of Hope."

Reanna spent the rest of the morning in the room with her niece playing, singing, and putting the little girl to sleep. It was very refreshing to be around such a young child. Reanna hadn't been around children since she was kidnapped.

When Millie was fully asleep, Reanna gently put the little girl down and headed back to her quarters to get something to eat. She hadn't really realized how hungry she was until she had looked at the time and saw that it was an hour after she would normally eat.

On the way up to her quarters, she passed by a small corridor and couldn't help but overhear Kade's voice. She caught her name in one of Kade's sentences and naturally stopped to listen to what he was saying about her.

"…can't be to sure we've got them all," Reanna peeked around the corner and almost gasped in shock when she saw Lindy talking with Kade. "I would feel much better if you would do this for me. I know she can handle herself, but her ribs haven't healed entirely and her lungs could be in better condition. Just stay there until things have settled, and then you can resume your position on the ship. It'll be one way you can help pay off your debt."

"So, go baby-sit your girlfriend and her niece for a few months and then come back and get a promotion?" Lindy made sure.

"She is not my girlfriend and it's to make sure that no one attempts to harm her or Millie," Kade's sounded a little too harsh and scornful when he said girlfriend. "Besides, you know that if some of Madam's followers are still out there, they'll come after you to. It's a way I can know that both of you won't be in the line of fire."

"So my job is upgraded from baby-sitting, to staying out of your way."

"If you want to view it that way."

"When do you want me to leave?"

"Right after Reanna," Kade said without hesitation. "I don't want her to suspect that I am sending someone to watch her."

Reanna bit back an outraged cry and nearly stomped all the way back to her quarters. How could Kade do this? She wouldn't have objected to having someone to help her stay safe! She knew she wouldn't be doing any really strenuous fighting for the next few months and would have gladly taken someone along! Especially now that she had a little girl to take care of!

"Oh! The nerve of that man!" Reanna stormed into her room and pulled out all of the clothes out of the drawers and shoved them into a small travel bag. Then she grabbed the few credits she had and put them in her pocket. Now she just had to somehow get one of the shuttles and leave before anyone noticed something strange was happening.

She wouldn't get custody over Millie for two weeks and she wasn't about to get into trouble trying to take Millie before it was time. Instead, she would go home and settle in at the country estate. She would write a message for Kade, of course, telling him where she was and where to bring Millie.

"Rea?" Great! Just great! Think of the devil himself! "Rea, what are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Reanna snapped angrily as she tried to go out the door. "Can you get a shuttle for me? I would really like to leave soon."

"Could you tell me what brought this on?" Kade asked a little confused as to her behaviour as he blocked her escape.

"When did you decide I am so touchy? I actually would've liked to have someone along to help with my safety! You could have asked me before you went behind my back to send someone along behind me to watch from a distance! The one thing I hate is for people to go behind my back to do something I would have agreed to in the first place!"

"You were eavesdropping?"

"Who do you know that doesn't?" Reanna asked as she tried to get by him. But he blocked her "Besides, you weren't exactly making it very private! Let me through!"

"No," Kade said after a pause. "I don't think so. You aren't leaving until you've had a chance to cool off," Kade said as he picked her up and carried her to the kitchen. "Get yourself something to eat. We'll talk later."

"Kade, you can't keep me here! I am not a slave anymore!" Reanna shouted angrily. "And I am leaving, right now!"

"I never said you were!" Kade gripped her tightly by the arms. "But I would like to be on talking terms when you leave, so you're staying here until we can talk about this rationally."

"Rationally? You apparently don't believe I can even think rationally!" Reanna shook his hands off and crossed her arms. "I am not that naïve! I can see when I need help! All you had to do was explain the situation to me!"

"Rea-" Kade tried, but was hurriedly interrupted.

"Just get out!" Reanna turned away from Kade and waited to see what he would do. At first she thought that he was going to stay, but the she heard him shift and his footsteps head out of the kitchen, through the main room, and out the door.

* * *

Over the next few days, Reanna refused to speak to Kade at all and he, in turn, refused to even let her out of her quarters until she would talk to him about the falling out. This made a big problem. Kade was the only one who ever came into her quarters and, since she wasn't speaking to him, she couldn't ask if she could see Millie or for anything else she needed.

Kade knew she needed a few things, but was adamant that he wasn't going to do or get anything for her unless she spoke to him. So, she stayed locked up in her room, and nearly the entire ship were both shocked and amused at the turn of events. It wasn't unusual for the topic at lunch to be about the argument and speculation on what it was about.

The crew was very careful about not talking about it near their commanding officers, but not so much around the prisoners. Most the rebels knew about it and found it very confusing. They hadn't heard about Master Kade being in a relationship with anyone, but apparently he was having a lovers spat with his girlfriend. It was truly new news for them.

Of course, Mianna heard about this and immediately knew her sister had somehow gotten herself into deep trouble with the overall commander of the ship. That was not good, they were almost to Couroscant, and Mianna had heard from a very good source that the Emperor was keeping a very good eye out for a bride for his son.

If he heard the rumours spreading around the ship, Reanna and Kade would have to at least be a couple if they didn't want their reputations besmirched by relentless gossipers, and then both their careers would be ruined for years before anyone would even try to give them another chance.

That's why she made a request to see Master Kade when she got her first meal of the day. She had to get him to drop off Reanna on Ondo as he had first planned. Otherwise, both of their lives would be ruined.

"So, what do you want to see me about?" Kade said as he entered only a few minutes after Mianna had requested to see him.

"You're keeping my sister locked up somewhere," Mianna cut to the chase. "I don't know why or what you two are fighting over, but I do know that taking Reanna to Couroscant the way you are is going to be potentially dangerous for both of you. The Emperor has been looking for a suitable bride for you the last few months and if he finds out you have a love interest…"

"Reanna is not a love interest!" Kade said frustrated. "She is like a younger sister to me. And that is it!"

"And would you want your younger sister to be your wife?"

"No." Kade realized what Mianna was saying.

"Then do as you were planning to do," Mianna really hoped he would listen to her. "Leave Reanna and Millie on Ondo and let them set up their own life. I'm sure whatever argument you have with her will be resolved a little easier if you just give her some space. I know that from experience. She wont' come around if you keep her locked up and force her to resolve it. That does more harm than good."

"I'll take note of your advice."

"Don't just take note. When Reanna sets her mind to holding a grudge, she can really make things miserable for the person she's mad at. Just settle things with her and drop her off at home."

Kade nodded and walked out. Mianna dearly hoped that he would do as she suggested, The last person she knew of that had upset her sister had found herself experiencing many unusual unfortunate events up until Reanna had disappeared. And even now she got a bunch of ridicule for letting a nobody like Reanna get away with the harassment for the five years it happened.

Mianna smiled. Maybe Reanna would try harassing Kade. That would be a funny thing to watch, her little sister making the life of the third most powerful man in the galaxy absolutely miserable. If that happened, everyone who could see it would be rolling on the floor laughing their heads off. Ad laughter was what was needed at the moment.

* * *

Reanna was having the nightmare again. She distressed cries easily reached Kade's ears as he lay in his own bed trying to sleep. He wasn't sure what the dream was about, Reanna had refused to tell him, but he knew it was obviously something that left her greatly disturbed and troubled most of the time.

Then something suddenly donned on him, if he could hear Reanna through the walls and closed doors, she wasn't just crying out, she was screaming. That got him up and over to her quarters in no time. She was thrashing about on the bed and telling someone to get away from her. And then there was something about a little child. Someone's daughter.

"Reanna! Reanna, wake up!" Kade picked her up and started gently stroking her head. "Reanna, you are safe! No one is going to hurt you! Just wake up!"

"Kade?" Reanna asked as she started calming down. At first he thought that she was still sleeping, but then he realized that though her eyes were still closed, but she was awake. "Kade, don't leave me."

"I won't," he promised. "Just sleep."

After holding her for an hour, Kade quietly tucked her back into her bed and went back to his. He was going to listen to Mianna and take Reanna back to Ondo and let her live a god life that she would make for herself and her niece. It was definitely better than having Reanna mad at him for the rest of his life.

* * *

The next morning, Reanna didn't seem to remember what had happened or who she had been willing to let comfort her. That might have just have been because she was still silent towards him, but the look in her eyes was thankful.

Kade pondered if he should tell her he was going to let her go to Ondo, but decided to keep that tidbit of information to himself until they reached their destination.

She was going to be furious with him, but at last she would be talking to him again. Even if it was her shouting angrily at him. It would be nice to hear her voice again.

Kade went on about his duties normally and soon noticed he had picked up a shadow. He smiled slightly and turned to greet Quinlan and Millie. He had grown fond of the little child and Quinlan had been nice enough to baby-sit the girl for him while he let Reanna calm down. Now he realized the mistake and was sending Millie up to Reanna that afternoon.

"Hey, Millie," he took the little girl from Quinlan. "Have you been a good girl today?"

"She's been a little terror!" Quinlan rolled her eyes and folded her arms. "She somehow got out of her room before I went to pick her up and I didn't find her until a few minutes ago! And do you have any idea on where I found her?"

"A room that has a lot of interesting machinery?"

"The main hanger. And this isn't even the first time it's happened! She can't even walk yet and she can get out of a locked room without the help of an outside accomplice! What kind of child can do that?"

"A child of a Starfield," Kade answered. "Have the council decided when the meeting is going to be? I need to know at least three months in advance. There is no way I can get away at a moments notice."

"They say they want to postpone it until after the celebrations are done," Quinlan said. "It'll be safer that way. No random civilian will be in the right place at the wrong time and hear everything."

"Fine," Kade said as he handed Millie back to Quinlan. "You'd better get Millie up to her aunt now. And you'd better be ready to tell Reanna the whole story on how you ended up as one of my operatives. She kind of saw us yesterday."

"Great to know."

* * *

Reanna was half way through reading another one of the holonovels that kept appearing in her room and was just getting to one of the most terrifying parts of the story when there was a loud knock on the door.

She jumped, but then didn't answer thinking it was another one of Kade's attempts to get her to talk to him. Then the knocking became louder and a familiar voice started calling.

"Meena? Can you please answer me? My arms are about to fall off from carrying this heavy load!" Lindy's voice was a little apprehensive. "Meena, please just answer the stupid door!"

Reanna jumped up and hurried to the door. How on earth was Lindy not being held prisoner by Kade? And why did Kade seem to trust her so much?"

"Lindy?" Reanna was shocked to see it was indeed her friend from the rebellion. "I'm sorry, I thought you were Kade.

"Hi, Meena!" Lindy was holding Millie on her hip. "Or, I guess, I should call you Miss. Starfield now. How have you been doing these last few weeks? Not too bad I hope."

"Lindy? What is going on?"

"Well, first off, Kade decided it wasn't really fair to you not to have your niece around, so he sent me up to deliver her to you. Second off, my name really isn't Lindy. It's Quinlan."

"Quinlan? Isn't that a boy's name?"

"No. Actually, it has been shared by both male and females for thousands of years" Quinlan hated people always saying her name was supposed to be a boy's. "Now, thirdly, you should probably know that I am, and probably always will be, an Imperial lieutenant. A few months ago I was a rebel spy on assignment to assassinate Master Kade. He caught me and tried persuading me to tell him everything I knew about Madam. I was going to, but then my implant went off. I'm not entirely sure on what he did, but when I came to, there was a big gash on the back of my neck and Master Kade had saved my life. To repay the debt I owe him, I started working for him. Undercover. That's where you met me."

"Then you're the young girl he talked about when he tried to talk me out of going undercover. Only in his version, you died," Quinlan started a little when Reanna said that. Reanna didn't seem to notice, as she was to focused on her niece. "Come one in. I need someone to talk to."

Hours flew by as the two woman talked. Neither noticed how late it was getting or how Quinlan's comlink kept buzzing until Kade came up and interrupted them.

"Quinlan, I send you up here to one little thing, and the next thing I know, you're taking the day off without permission!" he said a little crossly. "I have enough to do without having the extra burden of a missing lieutenant! Could you please get down to the bridge to finish your workday and then report to the kitchen for duty?"

"Right away, sir," Quinlan jumped up and headed out of the door. "I'm sorry for my negligence, sir. It shouldn't happen again."

"It had better not," Kade mumbled as he and Reanna were left alone in stony silence. Millie seemed to know all was not well between the two adults and broke the silence with a loud giggle. "You are a cheerful one, aren't you?" Kade smiled and laid down on the floor in front of the happy baby. "You know what, Millie? I set course for Ondo today. You'll be home within the week. And your aunt will be able to start her job in about four days."

Reanna rolled her eyes and picked up the novel she had been interrupted from reading when Lindy had come up. Kade had to do way better than that to get her to talk to him. He was off to a good start, but he still had quite a long ways to go before she would even say one word to him. Unless he did something truly unexpected for or to her.

She was soon so engrossed in the story, she didn't really notice when Millie came and snuggled up with her, or when Kade went into the kitchen and started cooking for her. It wasn't until he had finished and left that she actually noticed his absence.

She couldn't help but be grateful to Kade. She did not feel like cooking for herself let alone her niece. So the hot soup was very welcome and delicious.

Reanna couldn't help but wonder where Kade had learned to cook so well. It almost made her want to ask him, but she quickly shook her head. There was no way she was going to break her silence streak.

(^)

Lona didn't know what time she woke up, but she knew it was more than twelve hours and was glad she had gotten the extra rest. She felt more sharp and energetic than she had in weeks.

She had to thank Gence for drugging her food. This was the first time in three years she had slept for that long without being disturbed at all. It almost made her wish she could do it every day.

"Hey, Sleeping Beauty," Gence came in looking tired and haggard. "You think you could get me to the medical centre now?"

"Yeah," Lona jumped up and grabbed her boots. "We'll go in a few minutes. See if you can get a speeder. I'll be out in a few minutes."

Gence nodded and left to go do as she had told him. Lona laced up the boots as fast as she could and quickly ran a brush through her hair trying to make herself presentable. Then she followed after Gence and waited with him on the edge of the street for an air-taxi to pick them up. Gence definitely didn't look too good. It almost looked as if he was on Spice and she couldn't help but get the feeling that it was the reason that many of the air-taxi's passed by them with a whiz.

When one finally stopped to pick them up, Lona paid more than the real price without complaint. She was more concerned with her friend getting to the medical centre really soon.

"I'll pay you even more extra if you get us to the medical centre in ten minutes," Lona bribed the driver. "And it will be more than a few credits."

"Yes, ma'am."

The driver went so fast that they were there in five minutes. Lona paid more than anyone should pay for the taxi and then took Gence inside. This medical centre was completely compliant to their request when Gence explained the circumstance and gave them his real name. He was in the tank within half an hour.

Lona waited an hour and was a little startled when the desk attendant came over. The young man looked troubled and Lona couldn't help but get the feeling that he was going to make the same mistake everyone else made when it came to Gence and her.

"Are you Mr. Dale's wife?"

"No. I'm just a friend," Lona smiled a little. "Is he going to be in there long?"

"He'll be here for another few hours," the attendant said. "If you get tired of waiting here, there is a quaint little café just on the corner. Or if you are tired, there is a small Inn about a block from here that rents out rooms for an afternoon if you would like."

"Thank-you," Lona smiled a little wider at him. "I think I'll take advantage of that café. I've had to sit in all the waiting rooms we've stopped at for hours and no one ever told me whether or not there was another place I could wait."

The attendant nodded and went back to his desk. Lona noticed him call someone and overheard Gence's name mentioned a few times. Then she remembered that they were on Orlo and Gence was the nephew of the king and queen. That meant she was going to meet his family if she hung around, and, if they were anything like Mira's parents, it was going to be an awkward meeting.

So, she stood up and left the waiting room to go to the café the attendant had told her about. The walk was refreshing. The planet was quite pretty. The air smelled like it was made from the perfume of flowers and everything about the city spoke of everyone being a proud people. All of the buildings looked as if they had cost a fortune to build. Even the poorer looking buildings didn't seem to be cheap.

She had to wonder, if this was the poorer side of town, what did the rich side look like?

"What can I get for you, Ms?" The waitress asked.

"Just some regular caf." Lona responded as she sat down at one of the tables. "And one of those muffins."

After an hour of waiting around in the café, Lona got bored and left. She went around the planet sightseeing for the rest of the day and even went to the palace where Mira said she had spent her childhood.

Lona had never seen anything so grand. She was positive the entire front was made from marble. The window panes and door knobs could only be ivory, and the doors from a dark wood.

This was nothing compared to the inside. The inside was indescribable as to how magnificent it was. She had to wonder if all the riches of the galaxy had been taken to build this one palace as kind of a monument to how grand things could be made. What's more, she could finally understand Mira's contempt for her own family.

"And this is the room of the Princess Miranda," the tour guide led them all into a big room full of needless luxuries. "Third child of our beloved king and queen. She disappeared about four years ago and no one has had any contact with her since," Lona had to bite back a laugh when she heard that. The royal family would probably drop dead if they knew that the one who convinced Mira to leave with her on the _Conqueror_. "Though we do hope she will one day return to us."

Lona nearly choked at the woman's words. These people had no idea on who Mira really was. Their princess had spent years among them and not one person had gotten to know the young woman. If that wasn't reason enough for Mira not to return, Lona didn't know what was.

Then, a portrait on the wall caught her eye. It was of Mira from five years ago, so she would have been thirteen at the time. There were many differences in the girl from back than and now. Foremost, Mira had been a real beauty back then. With her hair twisted into an elaborate style, an unmistakable twinkle of mischief in her eye, and the tiny knowing smile tugging at her lips. It was such a shame that the young girl in the portrait had vanished leaving the almost too mature woman that had replaced her.

"That portrait," Lona decided to draw everyone's attention to it. "Is that the princess?"

"Yes. It was painted on her thirteenth birthday a year before she vanished." The guide went on about things no one but an artist could know and Lona watched for an opportunity to sneak away. It came when they reached the library and everyone was given permission to wonder around a bit. It didn't take much for Lona to duck out of the room when no one was looking and make her way back to Mira's room.

She put the "closed for cleaning" sign up on the door and went into the bedroom. Then, she started looking through all the personal belongings until she found the diary. Then she went back to the library and sat down in one of the seats and started reading through it.

It was really insightful as to what changed in Mira the four years . The forced clothing, unwanted suitors, media attention, and the fear Mira felt when watching her older siblings put into marriages were the situation was already strained without a new spouse into the mix and wondered if that was going to happen to herself.

"Ms.?" Lona was interrupted by the someone putting their hand on her shoulder. "The tour is moving on. I suggest you put that back where you got it from and continue on."

"Yes, thank-you." Lona stood up and put the diary on a random shelf. Then she headed to where the group was meeting up and waited for the guard to go try to find the stragglers to quickly go retrieve the diary. She was nearly caught, but then he caught another person trying to smuggle a book out of the library.

Then, she skipped the rest of the tour and went back to the ship. Gence was probably going to show up at one point and she wanted to be there when he did.

"Lona?" He nearly made her jump out of her skin when he called from the cockpit when she got back from the palace.

"Blast, Gence!" Lona swore. "Don't go scaring me like that!"

"Sorry," he chuckled. "I just came to say good-bye and you weren't here."

"Good-bye? Come on, Gence," Lona sat down in the chair across from him. "I'll be back if only to take some cooking lessons. And then after that to hide out when things get too hot for me."

"Still. Until next time," Gence held out his hand. "It was good working with you. Even if you are the reason my entire mission failed."

"I was just making things a little more lively than it would have been," they stood there awkwardly for a few minutes before Lona hugged him tightly. "Stay safe and no getting married until I've had a chance to approve of that certain young lady."

"I wouldn't even try," Gence smiled. "So you didn't feel like meeting my family?"

"Not if they are anything like Mira's family."

"Naw. I was lucky and got the good side of the family. My mother was both raised in the country and were allowed to run wild for their childhoods. She is more easygoing than her brother."

"Then maybe I'll drop by to meet her one of these days." Lona smiled.

Gence gave of a nod and headed out. Lona found herself alone again and sighed at the heavy silence. A year ago she would have scoffed at the idea of travelling with someone for more than a few days. Now she actually wanted someone to travel with her. Someone she could shout at, talk to, and order around.

It sure beat talking to herself most of the time or not talking at all. She definitely needed to meet up with Mira again, now that that Gence was gone.

* * *

The flight to Couroscant was far from eventful. It was all Lona could do to not fall asleep while she was flying manually. She hated to admit to herself that she couldn't pull a three day flight without at least dozing once. It frustrated her. She wanted to be able to keep on with her previous lifestyle of not needing that much sleep, but it seemed as though those days were over.

She arrived on Couroscant without any problems and checked in at the expensive hotel she had told Mira they would meet at and then went to shop for some better looking clothes than she had on.

She went into one of the very high end stores and started looking through all the various articles of clothing they sold. She noticed the looks of contempt she received from a few of the clerks and smirked. If only they knew how much she had saved. Then they would be treating her as if she was the Emperor's wife.

"I've told you," an exasperated voice came from a few feet away. "My husband does not mind me spending all this money on clothes that I am not going to be able to wear for the next few months! Besides, they aren't even for me! They are for my daughter and are bound to be able to fit her quite well!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, Mrs. Rane," the clerk's voice was very apologetic. "Please acc-"

"Forget it!" Mrs. Rane's voice was very angry. "I'm not shopping here ever again anyways, so don't bother apologizing!"

Lona bit back a laugh and pretended to examine one of the evening gowns. Her smile must have been very noticeable, because the next moment, Mrs. Rane was standing beside her asking if she found the whole ordeal funny.

"Actually, I do find it very funny," Lona admitted putting the gown back on the rack. "But if they are willing to try and give Lord Rane's wife fashion advice, they'll probably refuse to sell me anything because of how I like to dress whenever I'm not staying in one place for a while."

"No, I believe not," Mrs. Rane smiled in amusement. "Come, I'll show you some of the better stores where they actually make the shoppers feel welcome. I've never like this one anyways. I'm Joan. What's your name?"

"I'm Lona," she couldn't help but notice the small, but rounded belly of the older woman. "I would be glad for someone to show me around. This is my second time on Couroscant and I didn't have any time for shopping on my last visit."

"That's a smart thing to do," Joan chuckled. "Otherwise you probably wouldn't have any money to spend for this time unless you have a very well paying job."

"My job gets me by if I stick to my budget," Lona said as they headed down the street to another one of the many stores. "I met your husband a few days ago. Is he always very moody?"

"How do you mean "moody"?"

"Like demanding that someone get taken out of the bacta tank because he believes he should have priority over anyone else."

"Let me guess, a bunch of his men were badly wounded and in need of medical attention," Joan saw Lona's affirmative nod and continued. "My husband has seen a lot of death in his time. He has grown to hate seeing things even remotely related to death. So, when seeing any of his men injured, he overreacts."

"I think that might be an understatement."

"I think you would be overreacting over that if you had watched your first wife be murdered in front of your very eyes," Joan said as she opened the door to the store. "The death of a spouse is a death no one should see. And if they have to, it should be the spouse dying of old age."

Lona chewed on that information the rest of the time she spent shopping with the older woman. Lord Rane had never announced being married before Joan. But, then again, he hadn't announced his marriage to Joan until they had been back from their honeymoon for three years and their daughter had been born. So, it wasn't entirely impossible that he had had another wife before her.

"So, where are you staying?" Joan asked after three hours of endless shopping.

"The Crescent Hotel."

"Ah! You must really have a big budget to be staying the hotel of lovers," Joan said with a twinkle in her eye. "I stayed there a couple of times. I haven't been there in years though. Not with all the work my husband has these days."

"Hotel of lovers? Since when has it been call that?"

"Since nearly half of it's customers are lovers, newlyweds, and couples on their anniversaries," Joan grinned very amused. "Only about a third are people there on business or vacation."

"Well, it is the most expensive hotel on the planet I hear. I've been scrimping and saving long enough for a bunch of things I don't even want anymore. And this is going to be one of the last weeks I have as a woman without any commitment to anything longer than a few weeks."

"Oh?"

"I'm going to buy a small business that is almost run to the ground and try to get it back on it's feet. It would probably help me get it if I looked at least a little professional."

"I'm sure it would."

The rest of the day was spent with Lona and Joan shopping until they're feet felt like they would split in two if they kept walking another minute. So, they went into a small café and sat down hoping that if they let their feet rest a minute, they would be able to walk to their rides without their feet dying from the strain.

Then, they parted ways and Lona again felt loneliness settle around her when she got back to her room. She hadn't planned to spend the day with someone, but she was glad she did. She had a feeling she would have gotten very depressed if she hadn't had someone there to talk to. Even if she didn't like Lord Rane, she found Mrs. Rane to be a very outgoing and kind person. A nice change from Gence and Mira. Not saying she didn't like them, but they both tended to be a little too grave at times.

Lona collapsed onto her bed in exhaustion and was asleep within ten minutes.

(^)

Mira lay unconscious to the world around her as her body slowly recovered from the slow processed surgery. It had taken a lot of time and work, but her face was fixed. The cold, hard scales were replaced with skin as warm and soft as the day she was born. Her eye was back to the soft hazel that matched her other eye. But she didn't know any of this. The times when she had been nearly conscious, she had felt someone gently rubbing a part of her face.

But before she could become fully conscious, she was sent back to the furthest reaches of darkness that could ever be found. She had no idea about what day it was and if she had been sleeping for just one day or for months. All she knew was that she was trapped in darkness and every time she tried to break out, someone would stop her.

It scared her, but she couldn't do anything about it and she had given up trying to control the situation a long time ago. Now, she let herself wander the lands of darkness without any hope on ever getting out. She wondered if this was her punishment for disobeying her parents and ignoring them when she said she would assure them she was safe.

Or maybe it was just Tynan trying to punish her through not letting her ever wake up again. Maybe it was his method of breaking the thing he saw in her while breaking her in the process. Whatever it was, it was the worst thing that had ever happened to her.

Tynan stood off to the side watching the sleeping woman. The mirrors surrounding her would startle her quite a bit when she opened her eyes. The shock of seeing something she didn't think possible would probably send her into panic. Hence why, her wrists and ankles were bound to the bed. She would not be able to get up and hurt herself.

Mira was going to have the awakening of her life.

* * *

Please R&R!


	7. Chapter 7

True to Kade's word, they arrived on Ondo within the week. Millie had stayed with Reanna the entire amount of time it had taken to get there and now they were at their destination, Reanna was exhausted. How was she going to care for a little girl and run a business when she could barely keep up with caring for her niece? She didn't know.

She still wasn't speaking to Kade, but she was taking Quinlan along with her as he wanted. No matter what he had done, she needed help and she was willing to trust Quinlan.

The second she stepped off the shuttle and looked around, she felt an emptiness settle in the deepest part of her heart. Ondo wasn't going to be the same without her family. She wouldn't even be able to stay in the room she had grown up sleeping in, because the entire structure was gone.

Millie looked into Reanna's eyes a few minutes after they had started towards the country with a bright light of excitement in her eyes. She pointed to the city and laughed loudly.

"Millie, this is our home," Reanna smiled and hugged the little girl to her. "Your mommy and daddy both grew up here. They went to that school together for twelve years. Then, they both went to the college across the city for four years until they decided to get married. Then, they moved into their own house and lived together there for three more years before they found out that you mommy was pregnant with you."

"It took them three years to start a family?" Quinlan was surprised. "From what you've told me, I would have thought it only took a year for Hope to get pregnant."

"They both insisted that they wanted to wait until his business was a little more stable to start a family. By the time she got pregnant, the business was more than stable."

"Then you were kidnapped?"

"Yes." Reanna looked out of the window just as they were passing the empty lot where her father's office building had stood. She remembered the days where she would go in there and spend hours learning how things were run. There was always something different and new to learn as soon as she stepped through those doors. Now, her father and the building were gone.

"You miss them all, don't you?" Quinlan asked.

"No matter how bad you believe your family was, you still miss them when they are all gone and there is no possible way you can ever see them again."

Quinlan nodded and was quiet. Seeing her childhood home was probably very hard for Reanna, Quinlan decided to give her friend time to adjust to being back. Especially now that everyone thought she was dead.

Reanna was grateful that she was being left alone. There were so many memories of things that happened while she was just walking down the street or sitting in one of the cafés with one of her friends.

She burst out laughing when they passed by one of the places she had actually written in her diary about. Then she turned to Quinlan to tell her what was so funny about it.

"Right behind the Five Diamonds is where I got to see my sister get her first kiss," Reanna laughed even harder. "I was sent to bring her home for the family dinner when Hope and Desmond announced their engagement. I found out she had been going out with one of the college boy when she was only in high school. That had been the first time they had started making out and I interrupted them. She made me swear on our grandparents grave I wouldn't tell our parents. I didn't tell them, but I did tell my best friend and she told my parents for me. Mianna was furious when she got put on probation for three weeks until she found out the boy was cheating on her. Then she was very willing to do all my chores for me."

Quinlan started laughing along with her. Millie was clueless as to what was happening, but she started laughing along with them anyways. By the time they got to the country mansion, they had calmed down, but their sides were aching something awful.

"This is your country home?" Quinlan's eyes were wide as she looked at all the grounds and the whole mansion. She wasn't entirely sure it was a mansion. It might as well of been a palace.

"We only ever stayed here when we had important company or were on holiday," Reanna said as he stepped out of the air-taxi. "I never really thought I would be able to stay here more than a few weeks at a time."

"That makes two of us." Quinlan said looking up at the huge building.

"I don't think anyone could ever use the whole place, so we'll keep it simple and only use the east wing. It has all the things we'll need. A kitchen, a few bedrooms, and a few other rooms for various uses. If you want to use anything else, just look at one of the many maps posted around the place, or ask one of the staff for directions."

Reanna walked up to the main door and opened it without hesitation. She walked in and immediately started ordering the servants all lined up to do various chores. Quinlan was a little surprised by the authority Reanna used to take command, but decided it was probably for the best. You had to demand the respect from those that worked for you or things would go out of hand. But the manner Reanna was doing it in reminded Quinlan a lot about a certain young Imperial Commander they both knew of.

Then Reanna turned to Quinlan and Millie and smiled broadly. She came over and picked up the little girl.

"Come on," she said leading them up one of the many staircases. "I'll show you both to your rooms. Then you, my little sweet, are going to have a nice long nap while I take care of a few things. Alright?"

Millie shook her head and rested against Reanna's neck. The aunt smiled and led them through almost too many halls to count and to a long corridor with a lot of doors. Reanna opened the first one she came to and motioned for Quinlan to go in.

"This is your room, Quinlan," Reanna moved on and called over her shoulder. "If you need anything, just use the com on the desk and tell them exactly what you want without any hesitation."

"Thank-you."

"Anytime," Reanna waved and then opened another door a little ways down the hall. "Now, young lady, it is time for you to go to sleep. And then I'll take you down to the playroom. But you have to go to sleep."

Millie smiled and garbled off on some un-understandable gibberish. Reanna smiled back and put the little girl onto the bed. Then she started telling Millie stories about things she had seen Hope do while growing up. And things Desmond did to get Hope to notice him as a potential suitor.

Reanna went on and on about Millie's parents until the little girl's eyes closed and she started snoring. Reanna tucked Millie under the covers and gave her a little kiss on the forehead.

"Both your parents snored too." She said as she stood up straight and headed out the door. She glanced over at Quinlan's door and turned to go to her own room when she saw the door was closed. She had been up for the last twenty hours and her brain felt as if it was a bunch of frazzled circuits. So, she went into the big master room she had insisted on sleeping in since she was a young girl and collapsed onto the huge bed.

* * *

The next week was spent settling in and getting a routine set for Millie. And Reanna had to spend a lot of her time on the mountain of paperwork she had found waiting for her when she'd gotten home. Quinlan looked over security of the mansion and was very surprised to see it was one of the best systems there were. It just wasn't being used. So, she turned it on and headed to the new office building Reanna would be working for the next years.

Everything was fine and Quinlan really had to wonder why Master Kade had sent her with Reanna. There really was no need for her to be there. But then she remembered Kade's mistrust in any machinery and how he wasn't able to see how good things here were. But still, Kade knew Reanna could make those improvements on her own! He was jus being paranoid.

She was going to have to tell Kade that he was worrying over nothing and that his girlfriend was capable of keeping herself safe. Nothing was going to hurt Reanna as far as the woman's security was concerned.

Things really got difficult when Reanna started working. Millie became grumpy when she couldn't see her aunt every second of the day, Quinlan found herself getting bored, and Reanna found herself beginning to stress over being both a boss and a mentor at the same time. In short, things were getting tense around the small household.

"How did my dad manage it?" Reanna asked one morning at the breakfast table. "He showed a little bit of stress sometimes, but I never saw him as bad as the way I feel."

"You're just starting out," Quinlan said with a tiny smile. "And you have a little girl to care for now. A responsibility you've never had before. All of that makes for a really rough start."

"I would love it if things got better," Reanna said wearily. "The business is running fine and there aren't too many problems with the trading. But in order to keep it that way I have to prove I am not naïve when it comes to running the company."

"How long will it be before you prove it to them?"

"That depends on how well I make my decisions," Reanna leaned over and gave Millie some more milk. "If I make one wrong decision, I'll have a lot more problems dealing with it than most others would."

"Well, you're bound to make the wrong decision if you let the stress get to you like you have these last few days," Quinlan said tossing her napkin onto the table and scooting her chair back. "Just try to relax. The pressure is just to make you crack so things can go back to the way things were before they had to get the rightful boss back into the business. A boss who will look over all the work they've done and call out anything they see is wrong. And that would be helping cut the profits of the man who used to get all that money. Once they see you aren't going anywhere, they'll let the load lift a little."

"Easier said then done," Reanna picked Millie up out of the high chair and held the child on her lap. "But, thanks for the advice. I'll do my best not to let the stress get to me anymore. And hey, I get the day off day after tomorrow. We can go do something fun if you want. Or we could just spend the day relaxing."

"Well, I need to get out and do something. I don't care what it is, I just need something to keep me busy for the day. And maybe after that you could get me a job."

"I'll do my best, but I'm not sure anyone would take my recommendations because of the stunt pulled to have everyone think I was dead." Reanna stood up and headed out of the dining room to get ready for work. "I'll see you tonight."

Quinlan nodded and stood up to go to the gym to do some physical training. Even if it wasn't all that likely she was going to have to use any of her training, she knew it as a good idea to remain fit, just in case.

Reanna dropped Millie off in the nursery and headed out to her private speeder to go to work. When she had told Mianna she would take the job, she had no idea her authority would be challenged as bad as it was. Plus her work was constantly being interrupted by old friends of her parents wanting an explanation for her disappearance and fake death. It all made for terrible working conditions for her.

It was a half-an-hour drive to the office building and when she got there she was relieved to see her vice-president wasn't there to greet her. She went into the big office with her name on the front and immediately got to work. She had noticed a few files that had a few slight mistakes the other day, and had decided to look at them closer to see what she could discover.

She had her suspicions, but it wasn't until hours later that she had it confirmed. Someone had been embezzling money from the company for years. Over a million credits had been stolen since the company had first started, and it seemed the person was still going strong.

After a few more hours of searching through the files, Reanna knew for certain that it was the vice president and his secretary. The vice president had started the whole illegal operation, and the secretary had joined only three years ago. That left Reanna with the job of getting all the evidence together and get it to the authorities.

"Celia," she used the intercom to call the secretary. "I'm going out on my lunch break, can you handle things here?"

"Yes, ma'am."

Reanna stood up and went back to her speeder. She would go for lunch, but she would also go by her vice presidents and his secretary's places to see what they lived like.

She was a little shocked at the contrast between the two places. The vice president, Mr. Yelm, lived in a grand mansion with more luxuries and comforts then his salary could possibly afford. But then, she went to the secretary's house and saw a tiny apartment in need of vast repairs.

That was all she needed to see. She was going to get those files to the authorities and press charges against the two people that had been stealing from the family business since it started.

* * *

Quinlan jumped out of bed the second she heard the security alarm go off. She grabbed the nearest weapon to hand and headed out into the hall to see what was going on. She had just opened the door when the alarm stopped and silence settled around the house.

She stepped out into the hall and saw to dark figures walking down it towards Reanna's room. She was absolutely silent as she followed the two figures and was grateful when Millie started crying. That would make great cover for any of the excess noise she might make without meaning to.

The figures opened the door to Reanna's room and went inside. Seeing how no one was around, Quinlan broke into a run and stopped just outside. She first pressed her ear against the door to see if she could figure out the situation, before trying to go in. What she heard was very confusing.

"You are an idiot if you think I can help," Reanna's voice was very annoyed. "There are probably going to be enough people after my neck without you adding more to the mix!"

"I may be an idiot in that aspect," it was Reanna's voice again. "But at least I know which people still owe me debts and how they can help me."

"That's the problem," the annoyed Reanna's voice sounded exasperated. "I can't help you. I've cut all the ties I can with Kade, and I am not going to contact him now because of a debt I didn't even want in the first place!"

"Well, excuse me for saving your life!" the other voice was angry. "I just thought you might want to have a chance to live out your life instead of being killed for something you didn't do!"

"Fine! I'll hide you here until I see Kade again," Quinlan was curious as to who Reanna was speaking to. "But I will not contact him before that time!"

Quinlan pushed the door open a crack and gasped when she saw two women of the exact same height, weight, and build. Two faces exactly the same. Reanna's last surviving clone had come for a visit.

(^)

Lona didn't know how it had happened, but the next thing she knew she and Mrs. Rane were always meeting early in the morning in the small café they had gone to on the first day. They would meet, talk a little while, and then go off to do something interesting together. After a while, they started getting to be good friends.

Then, one day, Lona was given a great surprise when she walking into the café and saw Lord Rane sitting across from his wife. As soon as she saw that, she turned and hightailed it out of that café and rushed back to the hotel. There was no way on this planet she was going to ever socialize with Lord Rane. Even if she did like his wife a lot. After the way he had acted at the medical centre, she thought that if she never saw hime again it would be too soon.

She went up to her room and grabbed her mask. She might as well go to the meeting place to see if Mira had shown up yet. She had been going there every night for the past two weeks and there had been no sign of her wayward partner. Lona hoped that Mira would be there today, otherwise, Lona would have to assume her partner was missing or had struck out on her own.

The races on the lower levels were a dangerous affair. That's partially the reason Lona had chosen them as the meeting place. There was so much illegal goings on, the Empire had given up trying to take care of it. They only cared if the riff-raff got up to the middle levels. Then the Imperials would crack down hard on any crime they could find. But a raid at the races wasn't bound to happen any time soon and Lona was just itching for some king of action. Even if it was only watching the fun.

She slipped on the mask and sat back on one of the crude bleachers set up for the crowds enjoyment. She could tell race was rigged and who was going to win, who was actually trying, and who was paid not to do their best.

She spent three hours waiting, and that's when things started to go wrong for her again. She noticed a bunch of tense people starting to slowly mingle with the crowd. Then, off to the side and in the shadows, the Imperials in uniform were waiting for a signal.

Lona stood up and headed off the bleachers to one of the vendors. If she could somehow get out of the place before they struck, she would be able to get back to the hotel before supper and pretend nothing had happened.

Then, Lord Rane entered the square and Lona nearly panicked. If there was one person that would be able to recognize her, it would be Lord Rane. Lona didn't care if she drew attention to herself anymore. She was going to leave and if she was chased, she would lose her pursuers.

"She's over here, sir!" An Imperial shouted from behind her and Lona immediately noticed the finger pointing directly at her. She threw herself into action and jumped onto one of the passing speeders. She slipped a few credits into the driver's pocket and shoved him off. Then she drove the things as fast as she could towards one of the higher levels.

Blaster fire started flying all around her and she ducked low onto the speeder. If she could just make it to one of the transport stations, she could ditch the mask and try to blend in with the crowd.

"AH!" She cried out in pain as a bolt glazed the middle of her back. She nearly arched her back up, but then she remembered how much of a bigger target she would be if she did that so she forced herself to remain flat on the speeder. How was she supposed to treat all of the wound so no one would notice?

Lona looked up and groaned when she saw a roadblock ahead of her. How was she supposed to evade them? Jumping was no longer an option with her back the way it was. Surrendering would mean execution. And running through the blockade would most likely result in a quick death.

"Fugitive Striker," a loud voice came over a speaker. "Surrender now and you will not be harmed."

"Too late!" Lona bit out as she made the speeder go even faster. At the last second possible, she swerved off collision course and sped down the first ally she could find. She started slowly climbing up into the higher levels until she noticed the splendid homes everywhere. She decided that this was a good a place as any to ditch the speeder so she suddenly let go and let the small vehicle go out from under her.

She wasn't sure how far she fell or how she managed, but she landed on her feet like a cat and ran into the first house she came across. It wouldn't take the Imperials too long to figure out where she had gone, so she would only stay in the house for a second to her some different clothes on until she could get back to the hotel.

Lona pushed the door open and rushed into the living room startling Mrs. Rane out of her skin. Lona felt a big lump settle in her throat when she realized she was about to rob her friend.

"Please help me," Lona made her voice sound more like Mira's. "I just need another set of clothes and I'll go. Please."

"My daughter's bedroom is just down the hall," Joan stood up and lead Lona past three doors and opened it. "Take whatever you want. I won't recognize anything you put on. My daughter's wardrobe is always changing."

Lona opened the closet and hurriedly pulled something out from the back. Then, making sure Joan didn't see what the clothes looked like, she dashed out the door and back out into the open. Joan was undoubtedly going to call her husband just as soon as she could and have him there within minutes. Lona wanted to put as much distance between the house and her as she could before putting on the new clothes.

She made it three blocks before going into one of the empty homes and putting the gown on and taking the mask off. Then, she went out and started walking casually down the street towards the stores.

When she got there, she went into one of them and bought another outfit completely different to the one she was wearing. And then she went back to the hotel. By the time she got there, her back was throbbing so bad, she could barely walk normally.

She somehow managed it, and soon she was tending her back the best she could. It was going to hurt badly for the next few days, and doing strenuous things would only make it worse. But she had to make appearances of not being harmed at all, so she would have to go out and do things as she normally was.

"Blast you, Mira!" she clenched her fist. "If you would've just met me like you were supposed to, none of this would have happened!"

Tears fell from her eyes as she thought about how she had stolen from her newfound friend. She didn't have a choice, but the memory of the terrified look in Joan's eyes was a horrifying thing and she hated herself for it.

"Blast this whole stupid galaxy and all the people living in it!" Lona pulled on one of the new outfits she had bought the other day and headed down to dining room.

Lona acted as if she had spent the day shopping and pretended to be shocked when she heard about how the fugitive Striker had been on the planet and had evaded Lord Rane and his forces.

"I can't believe that actually happened!" Lona exclaimed to the people sitting at her table. "And to think I missed all the action because I spent the day shopping!"

No one noticed the small smirk on Lona's face after she had said those words.

* * *

"Caleb," Joan called to her husband as she ran a brush through her hair that evening. "What's going to happen to the Striker girl if she's caught? I mean, the Emperor hasn't really made it clear what is going to happen once she's caught."

"Even I am not entirely sure about the answer," Caleb answered as he shaved in the 'fresher. "All I can say is that he is very interested in the girl's potential. He told me that he didn't even sense her until she jumped from the shadows and sliced his hand off. And I had a little bit of trouble trying to overpower her."

"Do you think he is going to try and turn her into another Tynan?" Joan asked as her hand froze midway between stroke.

"I wouldn't be too surprised if he did," Caleb finished up. "He believes that if he makes enough people like what he wanted Kade to be, it'll make up for his failure to make Kade a monster."

"His first mistake with that was thinking that Kade could ever not care if his mother and sisters were dead," Joan felt a little sadness settle in her when she thought of her old friend being carelessly murdered. "And then expecting Kade to be able to murder innocent people. I still can barely believe that a small seven-year-old would tell the Emperor that he would rather be dead than be like him."

"I sure can," Caleb exited the 'fresher and started running the brush through his wife's long blond hair. "I was there to see him do it. I was also there to see the punishment he was given as a result of his backtalk."

"What do you think of the woman he seems interested in? A Miss. Starfield, wasn't it?"

"I honestly can't say," Caleb put the brush down and wrapped his arms around Joan. "From what I've heard, she wasn't speaking to him when she left to take over the family company."

"How long do you think it will take?"

"Well, they've already kissed, slept with each other, and had a huge argument, I wouldn't be surprised if we were offering him congratulations by the end of the year."

"They've slept with each other?" Joan was shocked. She had never known Kade to be so irresponsible!

"She fell asleep and he didn't bother moving her from his couch or moving to his own bed," Caleb chuckled at the relief that passed over Joan's face. "Last thing I knew about the two of them, the girl was doing what he wanted her to anyways, but isn't about to let him make amends anytime soon."

"Good for her," Joan smiled. "Kade needs to understand he can't always make decisions for everyone and expect they'll always go along with it."

The couple laughed as they headed to the bed and laid down for the night.

(^)

Mira felt her heart leap up to her throat and her stomach drop to her toes when she opened her eyes and saw her face in the mirror in front of her face devoid of any metal scales. And her hair was no longer the bleached blond she had wanted it to be, but the dark brown it had been before she had run away. The revelation that she could see through both eyes soon followed after and she felt a pressure on her lungs. She didn't know what had happened while she was asleep, but she knew it was something drastic. The last thing she remembered before the darkness had claimed her was that the entire left side of her face was bleeding profusely without any signs of stopping. Now, it looked better than it had ever before the whole vibroblade disaster.

"What?" She tried to raise a hand to touch her face to make sure that it was real and groaned when she found her hands bound to the bed under her. Tynan was sure taking great measures to ensure she didn't hurt herself in any way. Probably, because he didn't want her to damage the hard work that had been put into it. Like she would really try to do anything to her face now that it was back to the way she remembered it before the scales had ruined it

"Sleeping Beauty is finally awake, is she?" Tynan appeared almost like magic beside her causing her to start a little. "How do you like it?" He ran a hand down her now flesh cheek.

"Let me off the bed!" Mira snapped jerking her face away from his hand.

"Such hostility," his hand grabbed her chin gently, but firmly, and his thumb started stroking along her jaw. "Especially for the one who decided to give your face back to you instead of just letting them put the scales back on."

"I don't remember asking you to fix it." Mira said as he stood up and undid the restraints.

"But I did," Tynan's eyes seemed a little too focused on Mira's chest when she sat up, so she pulled up the blanket and held it around her shoulders. "And you should be at least a little sorry for doing what you did and for upsetting Lady. She has barely been able to close her eyes since she heard about how you tried killing yourself."

"How long was I out for?" Mira changed the subject as she grabbed the robe she found by the bed and put it on.

"Three-and a-half weeks."

"What? How could I have been out that long?" Mira tried standing up and immediately felt her legs buckle. She sat back down on the bed and waited for her head to stop spinning. "I guess it isn't all that impossible."

"No," Tynan grinned very amused. "In fact, it is the solemn truth. Now, your surgery cost is fifteen thousand, seven hundred and fifty-seven Daintos. In credits that is worth sixty-three thousand, and twenty eight credits. How do you expect to pay for it all?"

"Let me onto the Starlight and I'll be able to pay in cash," Mira said again trying to stand up and failing. "Unless you took apart the entire ship and stole all the cash on board."

"The ship is as in tact as the day you stepped off of it," a dark look entered Tynan's eyes and Mira got the feeling he was going to search her mind for something. "Your comlink has been very active these last few weeks. Always one person trying to get a hold of you. We've tried tracing it countless times, but we always lose the signal before we can even lock on it. Your partner, Striker no doubt. Now my only question is why is she trying to contact you."

Mira's mind immediately went to Striker's promise to send the signal as soon as she finished helping Gence with his job. That meant Striker was waiting for her on whatever planet she had chosen, and Mira wasn't going to show up.

"Why is she trying to contact you?" Tynan's voice was hard as rock.

"Have you already forgotten we were partners for a few months?" Mira crossed her arms. "Besides, I do have her ship and that thing is her pride and joy. She probably wants it back."

Tynan seemed to think it over for a minute and then turned and walked out of the room. He had a plan on how he could catch the annoying parasite Striker. But he had to act fast if he wanted it to go well.

As soon as Mira was certain Tynan was gone, she couldn't help but give a wan smile. They were probably going to try and send Striker a message telling her where they wanted to meet her, and in doing so, give away the fact the Mira was, indeed, a prisoner. And Striker would know not to try anything stupid as keep trying to get Mira to respond.

Then Mira would really be on her own. But an idea was forming in her mind as to a way she could escape. Tynan said he was able to get the collar off of her, and he had proven it when he had given her that brief break from it. So, the only way to get away from him was to trick him into undoing the collar.

* * *

Mira was moved back to her room the next day after the doctors made sure she was strong enough to get along by herself. She found, with great annoyance, that anything that could be potentially harmful towards her was removed leaving only the bare minimum of luxuries. Not that she minded most of the extravagant furnishings absence, but the thing that bugged her most was the fact that they had even taken the portraits that had used to cover the walls down.

Those portraits were one of the only things that kept Mira from feeling so cooped up when she was locked in her room. Now they were gone, she was probably going to go stir crazy now. But, maybe, losing her mind would be better than going through with her plan to escape. Tynan would have a lot of trouble on his hands then and, even if she was not there to see it, it would be sweet revenge.

Mira groaned and flopped down on the bed. She had her face and her sight back, and she was grateful that Tynan had given them back to her, but the way his eyes almost never left her face now was more unnerving than she had ever thought anything could be. She wished she could burry herself in a deep whole and never come out again.

"Oh, dear Mira," Lady suddenly entered the room and caught Mira in a tight embrace. "I was so worried about you! Please don't do anything like that again!"

"I'm sorry I worried you," Mira apologized. Lady was such a nice woman, Mira hated the thought that she had caused her grief. "You can be sure I won't ever try something so foolish again."

"Good," Lady pulled away from Mira and looked at her new look. "Oh, you look so beautiful! I just love your eyes! They are so…"she searched for the right word. "Enchanting."

"They're just hazel." Mira shrugged.

"But they have such depth to them!" Mira got the feeling Lady was just trying to be nice so she smiled and took the compliment without another word.

"Does Tynan know you're here?" Mira asked.

"He may be your master, but this is my home and I am allowed anywhere I chose," Lady had a really interesting attitude. "This room looks so dreary. I'll have those portraits brought back in here within the hour."

"Thank-you." Mira truly liked this woman now.

"I'm not about to let my nephew mistreat such a fine young woman, and one of the worst ways to do that is to keep her locked up in a room with nothing at all to look at."

Mira sat back on the bed and listened as Lady started chattering about things Mira didn't understand and looking through the wardrobe to find something she thought suitable for Mira to wear for dinner.

She finally settled on a light beige gown with pale pink lacing around the edges and a sash to match the lace. Then, Lady made Mira sit on the chair in front of the vanity and started doing the soft locks of brown hair up in an intricate fashion.

Mira could barely believe they had actually gotten the colour of her hair right. It hadn't been so brown since she had run away and stopped using the over-expensive hair care products and switched to the cheapest brands she could find. Now, it looked as if she was reliving the years she had received the most attention over her looks.

Mira mentally shook her head. Those days were over and there was nothing anyone could do to get her to try and go back. She was not a princess anymore. She was a lowly bounty-hunter who happened to mingle with the wrong people. She was just going to have to forget the days that had passed by in her childhood and early teen years.

"I have to go get myself ready," Lady stepped back from Mira and observed her handiwork. "I'll see you at dinner."

Mira smiled broadly and watched Lady leave the room. If she was ever able to escape, she knew she wouldn't ever be able to contact Lady again. It just wouldn't be practical to try and keep in contact with the wife of Tynan's uncle. That would most definitely be the thing Mira would miss from her captivity.

She pushed those thoughts from her mind and looked at herself in the mirror. If she had looked mildly attractive before, she was quite fetching now.

"Well, I see you're ready," Tynan entered wearing one of his black suits and his hair slicked back. "I believe it is time to head down to the dining room. May I just say there is a vast improvement in your beauty without the scales."

"Can it!" Mira was not in the mood to deal with his taunting or mocking compliments. "I may look the part of a lady, but do not think for one second that I am one!"

"Well, technically, you are a lady," Tynan grabbed her arm and tucked it into his own. "Considering you lineage and birth, you are considered more a lady than most who claim the title."

"Let the less of a lady ladies have the title," Mira wished she could jerk her arm away and go back to her room. "I don't need it or want it!"

They entered the dining room and their conversation was cut off. Throughout the evening, Tynan and Lord Rives seemed to be having a battle that no one else could understand. Lord Rives would say something and then Tynan would respond immediately in a tone that everyone knew had an underlining meaning.

"The lady you keep with you, Tynan" Mira felt herself tense at the words that referred to her. "There is something very different about her. But I can't put my finger on it."

"_My_ lady has just been released from the medical ward," Lady was beginning to look worried as Tynan started to respond. Things had not been going well since Tynan had come back to the planet with the news he had killed his younger cousin. "And I would thank you to keep your hands off of _my_ lady!"

Mira looked down at her plate and tried hard not to let her tenseness show. If there was one thing that was degrading, it would have to be the two men talking about her as if she was nothing more than property to them.

By the time the meal was finished, Mira felt ready to slap the man sitting beside her into kingdom come. He simply had no right to keep referring to her as his possession! There was no legal claim, and there was no true reason for him to keep her incarcerated! She was a free woman no matter what he did or thought, and when it was found out that he was keeping a free, young woman as his prisoner, he was going to be in deep trouble.

When the meal was finished, Tynan grabbed her arm and started leading her out of the room. When they had reached the doors, Tynan suddenly turned, caught Mira in a tight embrace and began to furiously kiss her.

_NO! Not again!_ Mira let herself go limp in his arms until he pulled away. She held back her tears as he led her though the halls and to her room. As soon as she was certain she was alone in her room, she allowed racking sobs to overtake her body. Not only because of the degrading words and things she had to go through, but because of what she would have to do to get free again and not be branded for life.

(^)

"I thought you said we weren't going to meet until after the celebrations," Kade said as he looked at the faces of his associates. "So why have you called this meeting?"

"Things change," the woman of the group said a little curtly. "We need to figure out a plan now, before we meet in person. That way, when we put it into action, there won't be too much confusion when it starts."

"I'm not about to make a plan right on the spot," Kade said a little wearily. "Give me three weeks and I'll have one that is bound to work without any problems."

The group he was meeting with agreed to this and cut the transmissions. Kade turned and went back to continue on with his work. By the time he went to bed that night, he was sure he had a plan that couldn't possibly go wrong. But, like many others before him, he was sorely mistaken on how wrong it could go.

* * *

Thank you so much for reading and if you have any questions, ideas, likes, dislikes, or even if you can give me advice on how to write better, REVIEW.


	8. Chapter 8

Quinlan nearly staggered back as if she had been burned when she saw the two identical females talking to each other. She had seen what she thought was all the clones modelled after Reanna. So, she had thought that all the clones were dead. But, apparently, one had survived and was now trying to get Reanna to give her a free place to stay.

Quinlan stood up straighter and headed into the room. She was going to find out what exactly was happening here. She wanted to know if Reanna was being blackmailed into something she shouldn't be doing.

"Alright, someone here is going to tell me what is going on! And they are going to do it quickly," Quinlan crossed her arms and looked sternly at the two young women. "Now sit and start explaining!"

"Quinlan, this is one of my clones," Quinlan looked at Reanna with a look that said she was far from being pleased. "Elanda saved my life on a backwater planet when I was searching for someone to switch identities with me. She's neck high in trouble right now, and she was wondering if I could help her out. She's going to stay with us _only_ until things cool down a bit for her. She will be working for me in that time, and we'll see where it goes from there."

"Quinlan?" the clone looked a little confused. "Isn't-"

"No. My name is for both males and females," Quinlan snapped. She wasn't about to have that question asked about her name again. "Okay, I'm fine with helping her as long as she pays for everything she gets. It's just common sense."

"She'll start working as the person who goes through every file there is in the company and makes sure that there is no more embezzlement or other funny stuff going on. A boring job, but one that needs to be done."

"And she'll give me food and lodging until I can be sure it is relatively safe for me to go out on my own and truly disappear," Elanda stood up and headed out of the room. "I'll spend tonight out in my ship and move in tomorrow."

Quinlan waited until she was sure the Elanda was gone to turn to Reanna and say her piece. She noticed the knowing look in Reanna's eye and realized that she knew exactly what she was going to say.

"You know I am going to have to tell Master Kade about this," Quinlan decided to say what she needed to say. "He'll probably think the idea is a terrible one for your business."

"Well, it's not really his decision, now is it?" Reanna said with a slightly hard edge in her voice. "He has no claim to this business legally, or even morally. It's mine to run as I chose and I think having someone making sure there is no one embezzling from my company anymore."

"Anymore?"

"The vice president and his secretary have been stealing from my family ever since the business started. I got all the evidence I'll need, and I'll be pressing charges against them just as soon as I can."

"Your niece is upset," Quinlan wondered about just how much Reanna hadn't told her about how things were going with the company. "You should go calm her down."

"Yeah." Reanna shrugged, stood up, and left the room. Quinlan shook her head and headed back to her own room. She was going to call Kade right now when the experience was still fresh in her mind. She must have caught him just as his day was beginning and he hadn't gone to work quite yet.

"Yes, Quinlan? Is everything all right there?"

"Yeah, I just thought you might want to know that one of Reanna's clones has turned up and is going to hang around here for awhile until she can go on her way without the worry of someone trying to kill her. Oh, and Reanna is going to be filing charges against some of her employees for embezzlement. Otherwise, things are going smoothly here. How about things there? Has the council thing called you about a plan yet?"

"They have, and I think I may have something."

"Good. The sooner this is over with, the sooner you can retire. I think I see a little grey sprinkling through your hair," Quinlan teased. "And to think you don't even have a wife yet."

"Quinlan, the chance of me _ever_ getting married is very, _very_ low," Kade picked up his work comlink and glanced down at it. "I have to go now. There's a bit of trouble with one of the rebels."

"Talk to you next time, then." Kade nodded and his end of the line went dead.

* * *

Reanna woke up early the next morning and headed out to the gardens to think over a business proposition she had received the day before. A man wanted to merge their company's together for a time and help expand to other planets. She had looked up the company and the owner, and found nothing to indicate this would be a bad opportunity, but she felt it was a little too early in her business career to be sure this was a best thing for her to do.

After all those years of watching her father and learning about how things were run, Reanna was a little upset about how little she thought she knew. She needed to get the company stable, but she wasn't certain which way would be best in helping. It was frustrating.

"You look like you just swallowed a bug," Reanna nearly jumped when she heard Quinlan's voice. "Care to say what it is all about?"

"Have you ever heard of the company, Willworks?" Reanna asked.

"Yeah," Quinlan said without hesitation. "My dad used to work for them. It was a pretty good company when he worked there, at least. Why?"

"Because I just got a business proposition from the president offering to help me make my company stable by merging our companies and teaching me more about business, while expanding my part of the company to other planets. I don't really know if I could do that. I haven't been here long enough to put the company through another drastic change like that."

"Really?" Quinlan was shocked. She had never heard of Willworks merging with another company to help the owner. "What's the catch?"

"I'm not entirely sure," Reanna shook her head. "Mr. Highlight wants to meet with me on Couroscant in two weeks and discuss this. I'm not entirely sure I want to, but at the same time I am very curious about this."

"Well," Quinlan shrugged. "I don't really have any advice. We could go to Couroscant and hear the guy out, if you don't like the proposition, we can just make it a fun vacation. And if you do like it, it would have been good you had gone anyways. It's a win/win situation."

"But I can't leave now," Reanna ran a hand through her hair and sighed. "I need to be here when the legal system calls about the embezzlement problem."

"Isn't that funny," Quinlan chuckled. "There was a message waiting for you from someone from the offices. They arrested the secretary and vice president last night, and they are going to set the hearing for three months from now. You'll have time to go to Couroscant and back before the hearing."

"You really want to go to Couroscant, don't you?"

"I hear the celebrations are going to be spectacular and I wouldn't mind seeing if it's true," Quinlan shrugged. "And, maybe, you could even straighten things out a little with Master Kade?"

"We'll go to Couroscant, sure," Reanna didn't realize the stern look she was using. "But I don't want to meet with that man at all when we are there. No funny business, understand?"

"Perfectly."

As Reanna left the garden to go start making plans to go to Couroscant, she couldn't help but get the feeling she was going to be meeting Kade whether or not someone intervened.

* * *

"There is no way I am going to stay there," Reanna mumbled to herself as she looked through a bunch of different hotels that still had rooms for when she wanted to go. "To close to the Imperial Senate and Kade is bound to walk right outside at one time or another. Maybe something a little further away. Something more like…"

She found one five more blocks away that looked nice enough. Not the most expensive one there was, but it was most definitely a nice place to stay. Pool, exercise room, both public and private dining rooms, and, Reanna's most favourite part, a spa for the use of every guest staying at the hotel. It would definitely be a nice place to stay whether the deal went through or not.

Reanna quickly made reservations for one of the large suites with three bedrooms, a living room, kitchen, and a large bathroom. Then, she made up plans for things to do when she wasn't meeting with Mr. Highlight.

She glanced over at Millie sleeping on a blanket on the floor surrounded by toys and smiled. The little girl had been sitting there playing with her toys for three hours and finally had just conked out. The position she as sleeping in, though, was a complete mystery to Reanna on how the child could possibly wind up like that.

Millie's was laying on her side, with her left leg almost completely level with her face. Her arms were raised over her head and her head was thrown back. Reanna just burst out laughing when she saw this and then moved the child to a different, more comfortable position.

Reanna went back to her desk and pulled out one of the many files she had been looking through earlier. It was the business proposition that she had been sent and she decided to look over yet again. She wanted to be sure she hadn't misinterpreted it and was thinking of something that would destroy the company for good.

She knew she needed to be absolutely certain about this, and she was doing her best to remove any doubt, but it was hard when she knew she wasn't that experienced.

"Really, Reanna," Quinlan sighed in exasperation as she flopped down onto the couch in Reanna's home office. "You've gone over that fifty times already. It's not like the writing is going to miraculously change and say that if you do accept the offer the company will be fully his and you'll only be an employee."

"Quinlan," Reanna closed the file and tossed it back onto her desk. "Have you already told Kade you're coming to Couroscant or are you waiting until tonight when I am in bed to do it?"

"Do you listen in on all of our conversations?"

"No," Reanna rubbed the back of her aching neck. "I just have to look at the communication stats to know that there are calls going out when I am asleep and I know that Millie and Elanda aren't calling anyone, so that leaves you and who else would you call except Kade? For future reference, I don't really care if you call him here. He is your boss and you do need to keep him updated if you want that promotion."

"I try to make sure I call him when he is awake," Quinlan said truthfully. "Waking him up from his much needed sleep is a very dangerous thing to do. That is a mistake a lot of people make and live to regret."

"Glad I haven't made it," Reanna brought up the holosite of the hotel she had made reservations at. "What do you think of staying here? It's about five blocks away from the Imperial Senate so we won't be right in the centre of the celebrations, but we'll be close enough. They've got all the stuff you could use to relax, including jets in the bathtub. They have a place to leave your children when you go to the spa or just need a little break."

"Nice place," Quinlan nodded. "What class did you get us in?"

"First class, of course," Reanna grinned. "Where else would we stay?"

"I don't know," Quinlan shrugged. "Isn't it a little expensive, thought?"

"I can afford it," Reanna said absolutely certain. "I'm not exactly poor, you know."

"This is going to be an awesome trip," Quinlan was very enthusiastic. "Absolutely awesome!"

(^)

Mira gasped and clutched the sheets underneath her hands tightly as Lady gently disinfected the stripes on her back. She hadn't meant to insult that male. But it had been reflex to slap him when he had come to close and tried to touch her face. But she had still insulted him and Tynan had had her whipped for her actions with a switch freshly cut from one of the trees just outside.

The only thing she could say to herself to help console her was it wasn't nearly as bad as when Tynan had tortured her as punishment, but it still hurt like Hell.

Lady had asked Tynan if she could help Mira with the pain, and he had said she could help with the healing, but she would have to use the disinfectant that sting and agitated the wounds before it healed them. Lady tried to make up for it by using the liquid sparingly and lightly, but it still hurt bad.

"I am so sorry, Mira," Lady was very apologetic when Mira winced again at the burning pain. "It hurts now, but I promise it will be completely healed by tomorrow. And without any scars."

"It's all right ," Mira assured the older female. "At least I know that you do care enough to help me, even if it is causing me pain for a short time. I sure would hate it if you didn't put me through this little pain and let me go through weeks of little pain."

"I still hate to cause you so much pain," Lady finished treating the stripes on Mira's back and started to put all her stuff away. "If you would like, I could teach you everything you need to know about my people so this never happens again. There is a lot to know. But, given a little time, I'm sure you'll know how to stay out of trouble."

Mira nodded, but stayed quiet. She was just way to tired to really care about anything. She was so tired of everything now. Tired of fighting Tynan, tired of hoping that she could somehow escape, and tired of just waiting for something to happen that will eventually get her killed. She wasn't sure how long it would take before she finally pushed him too far, but Mira was sure Tynan was running out of patience.

"How's the "patient" doing?" Tynan's scornful voice didn't bother Mira as it normally did. "Is she in pain?"

"Tynan!" Lady's voice was abnormally stern. "Get out right now! Mira needs to rest and your presence will only serve to get her all worked up. Just leave her alone for now!"

Mira heard Tynan start to argue the point, but their voices got fainter and fainter until they were nonexistent. There was only her and darkness. That was the way she wished it could remain until things got better for her. If they ever did.

* * *

When she woke up, Mira had formed a plan that was bound to help her escape, and also bound to ruin her life forever. Her back felt good as new, but her heart and mind felt as if they were being torn to shreds. She wasn't at all sure she could last another day if she stayed. So she spent the rest of her day waiting for the right opportunity.

Lady noticed how withdrawn and quiet Mira was all throughout the day and was becoming worried about the young woman. Mira wasn't only quiet, but her defiance of whatever Tynan ordered of her was also gone. Replaced by a robotic compliance.

Lady tried to ask Mira about what was wrong, but Mira would only give a small smile, that didn't even reach her eyes, and say she was just a tired. Lady could see more was wrong with her friend, but didn't push the matter. It wasn't worth gazing into those dead hazel eyes that had once held a cold steel of resolve.

It wasn't until noon that Lady realized what had happened to the strong woman she had once known, Mira had broken. Mira had broken and given up on ever being able to break free of Tynan. Lady realized this, and then immediately went in search of her young nephew. When she found him, she started scolding him harder than she had scolded anybody in all her life.

"Lady," Tynan said after she finished. "Mira has never and will never be any of your concern. If the situation upsets you so much, than you should just leave Mira alone from now on. Rives would not be too happy if he heard that you were becoming upset over something."

"I can't leave her alone!" Lady was furious. "She is one of the most intelligent and beautiful humans I have ever seen and you go and treat her as if she is nothing more than your slave! I've looked through every record there is on your ship and not one mentions you _ever_ buying a slave! It only mentions you taking a young bounty-hunter, who did nothing wrong, other than socialize with the wrong group, and have held her captive for more than was necessary!"

"Well, then, that is my problem and it does not concern you in the slightest!" Tynan was really trying to hold back his anger. "Lady, Just leave her to me. She'll be back to her normal self within the week. She is probably just feeling a bit under the weather anyways. Nothing to worry about."

"I don't think so," Lady shook her head. "The last time she acted remotely this way, as I remember, she tried killing herself."

"Last time," Tynan slapped the papers he was holding down on the desk and looked up at his aunt. "I wasn't paying attention to what went into her room and what she did with it. This time, she doesn't have a part of her face she can peel off to make herself bleed to death. This time, she has camera in her room that only switch on when they pick up her doing something harmful towards herself."

"Mira is very smart, even if she is feeling terribly," Lady pointed out. "She can find a way to harm herself without anyone noticing until it is too late. I suggest you do your best to get her back to her normal self, or you'll have a suicide on your hands. And you may not be as lucky as last time."

Lady turned on her heel and stormed out of the room. Tynan just sat at his desk staring off into space. Lady was a lot more intelligent than Lord Rives gave her credit for. She was also a lot stronger than everyone thought and was willing to give up a lot for things she was adamant about. She had just never had opportunity before.

Tynan sometimes wished she was his blood aunt and not just the woman who had married his uncle after the man's first wife had died in childbirth. Things would probably be sure different if Lady had been the real mother to Tynan's cousin. Maybe the fool would still be alive.

Whatever, he had other things to worry about in the moment. He would deal with Mira later. Right now, he had business to deal with, and it did not involve the young woman. Much.

"Master Deelan," one of the maids entered the bedroom where he had holed himself up for most of the day. "Dinner is nearly ready. Lord Rives would like to know if you'll be joining them this evening?"

"No," Tynan didn't bother looking up at the young female. "And neither will Miss. Mira. Serve the meal in our rooms."

The maid turned and left. Tynan wasn't disturbed throughout the rest of the evening after he was given his evening meal. It wasn't until after everyone had gone to bed he noticed the time. He stretched his arms out and suddenly felt two hands start working the knots out of his neck and back.

"Long day?" He found the whole situation quite strange.

"Yes. You here to make it worse?"

"No," the hands stopped and one hand gently moved his face over to where he could see the person. "I'm here to make it better."

Two lips crashed down onto his and he eagerly wrapped his arms around the woman and brought her closer to him, without letting their lips part.

* * *

Mira woke up in the wee hours of the morning wrapped in Tynan's tight embrace. She gently removed his arms and sat up. She looked down at the collar laying on the floor in two pieces, and felt a strange sense of joy and regret. She had given one of the most precious things she had ever had to Tynan, in exchange for her freedom. He didn't know of the trade yet, and wouldn't know until he woke up late in the morning, when the drug she had injected him with wore off.

Mira grabbed the bathrobe she had brought with her and quickly put it on. Then, she headed back to her own room and quickly put on the least restraining gown she had, and went to the hanger. She quickly located the shuttle she knew belonged to Tynan and immediately started getting it ready to take off. After that, it would only be a matter of getting up to the big ship and finding the _Starlight._ Than she would be home free.

Soon, she had indeed made it up to the big ship, and she had ditched the gown for one of the uniforms she found in one of the lockers. She quickly hurried through the ship looking for the right hanger and sighed in relief when she found Striker's ship unharmed.

It didn't take her long at all to make sure the ship was all right and to get it out and in hyperspace towards a dozen random destinations. It was only when she was certain she was safe that she gave up keeping her emotions in check and burst into tears. Who knew if there would be consequences to her actions? She might be pregnant from the whole ordeal and there was nothing she could do about it!

"Oh, Force!" she leaned against one of the walls, sank to the floor, hugged her knees, and buried her face in them. "How could I do such a thing? How?"

Mira cried all the way to the city planet of Couroscant. And felt like she was in Hell as she looked for a cheap hotel to stay in until she could somehow meet up with Striker.

(^)

Lona decided to leave the day she heard that Mater Kade was arriving on the planet within the week to take part in the celebrations. She wasn't about to risk him sensing her or running into him. That was just something she wasn't about to risk as it was something so unlikely, it was about the most likely thing to happen.

So, she decided to say good-bye Mrs. Rane the next time they met and get out of there as fast as the scrap of junk she had would take her. She couldn't wait for Mira anymore. It was obvious her partner was in trouble, and Lona had already waited too long to start looking for the missing woman.

"Lona," Joan noticed her young friend was not acting like her usual talkative self. "Is there something wrong? You seem pretty quiet. Anything you wish to talk about?"

"I'm going to have to leave," Lona admitted. "Tomorrow, in fact. A family emergency has come up and I have to go back to them to see what I can do."

"Oh," Joan seemed a little curious by this. "Something the matter with your brother again? I thought he was doing very well."

"He's fine. But our sister is missing and we have no idea on where we can find her," Lona knew it wasn't the full truth, but it was as close as she could make it without outright lying. "She was actually supposed to meet me here, but she's really overdue and my parents say she left home and should have been here by now. So, I'm going to have to help retrace her steps and figure out where she went or who kidnapped her."

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

"No. We can handle this. She probably went off to start up her career as a bounty-hunter wannabe," Lona shrugged. "We'll probably find her within the week and she'll be ready to give up her fantasy of being a bounty-hunter."

"I do hope you find her!"

"I do to, Joan," Lona said under her breath as they stood up to leave the small café. "I do to."

* * *

Joan rolled her eyes as she thought of the story Lona had made up as an excuse to leave the planet without suspicion. Joan knew Lona was Striker, and she had known since the girl had come crashing into Joan's home and stole some of Anna's clothes. And then Lona had began to take great care to avoid leaning on her back or having it touched by anything.

Now, Lona was leaving and Joan didn't know whether to tell her husband about it or not. There was no way Caleb would willingly tell the Emperor about it. However, anytime Caleb wished to keep something secret, the Emperor was always able to find it out. And Caleb was always punished severely for trying to keep secrets.

As much as Joan didn't want to, she knew her husband wasn't getting any younger and the punishments were getting to be more than she knew he could handle. Plus the girl would be in even more danger if the Emperor found out her alias. So, Joan decided to keep it to herself for as long as she could. And she truly hoped it was forever.

"Mother!" Joan looked up from where she was working in the garden to see her daughter looking very angry. "What on earth are you doing?"

"My flowers have been being choked by weeds for days," Joan let her hands rest on her growing stomach as she stood up. "I just couldn't watch them die! They have been my pride for years and I am not about to watch them wilt away because of my pregnancy."

"But, Mother!" Anna exclaimed taking the gloves away from her mother. "You know the doctor doesn't want you to do anything strenuous right now! It's for the baby's sake!"

"Anna, this is hardly strenuous. I did a lot more heavy lifting when I was expecting you and you turned out quite well," Joan shrugged. "But, if it will help ease your mind, I'll hire someone to do my gardening for me."

"Good," Anna took her mother's arm and led her into the house. "I invited Jerrold over to dinner tonight. Is that all right?"

"You already invited him. You can't really tell him not to come now."

"Sorry. His parents aren't going to be here until the wedding and I don't like the thought of him sitting all by himself in his office or his room all evening."

"It's fine. He's going to be my son-in-law after all and I would like to get to know him before he takes my little girl away from me," Joan went into the kitchen and looked around. "Next time, though, tell me before hand and I'll do the cooking. Otherwise, you can do it all. Just like you will tonight."

Joan put all the food that needed to be made on the counter, gave her daughter an amused grin, and walked out into the living room to tidy up the room for company. She knew Anna was completely able to handle herself in the kitchen, but she doubted her daughter had been expecting to be working in there this evening.

"Joan, I want to leave planet as soon as the celebrations have ended," Caleb walked in without any greeting. "I would much prefer you living on a quieter place with a lesser danger of strange people running through our home without any qualms about it."

"Caleb, I've told you. The girl was terrified and had no idea on what to do with you chasing her. She only acted on spur of the moment and had no intension of hurting me. At the time, she was only concerned with finding a way to evade capture."

"I find it strange on how you can read her so well," Caleb started helping tidy the room. "She was, after all, wearing a mask. And you are not able to use the Force."

"I saw it in her eyes," Joan sat down on the large easy chair. "There is something about those eyes I find familiar. Too familiar. The hurt, anger, panic- I have seen it somewhere before, but I cannot remember exactly where."

"Don't think about your past!" Caleb noticed his wife starting to go pale and her breaths getting shallow. "The stress might harm the baby. Just breathe and thing of other things that do not relate to any of the memories!"

"I'm fine," Joan said after a few minutes and gave a weak smile. "I was just in the past for a few minutes. We all go back there occasionally. It's nothing."

Caleb nodded, but did not fully believe his wife was all right. It wasn't often Joan remembered her life before she married him, but it was definitely not good for her health. Once she remembered one of the many trials she had gone through, she would be sent into the dark world of memory lane she so needed to avoid.

There would be nightmares, staring off into space, and the occasional fainting from the stress of the memories burned into Joan's mind. And it would be even worse now that Joan was pregnant. That would cause some of the more darker memories to overwhelm her and the baby would not benefit from this.

"Maybe you should leave before the celebrations. With all the fireworks, firecrackers, and screaming it might be too much for you. Too much like the war."

"No!" Joan would not be a burden to her family. "Anna would feel obliged to come with me, and I know she wants to be here with Jerrold for the celebrations. No, I'll stay. And, if it makes you feel any better, I won't go out into the city at all! I'll stay home and relax."

"Only if there is no chance of me not talking you out of this." Caleb relented.

"There isn't. I'll be fine."

* * *

Lona watched as the planet behind her grew smaller and smaller until it was gone. She felt a small stab of remorse as she thought of leaving behind her kind friend, Mrs. Rane. However, she knew that she couldn't stay as long as her back wasn't healed and Lord Rane was around. The risks of being caught.

She had heard rumours that the Imperials had been tipped of on her presence by one of the big time crime bosses and had immediately ran all the names through her mind to try and figure out which one had a personal vendetta against her, and only one stood out. Roy Rolland. The man who had claimed to be her mother's best friend and the one who had raised her. She had thought he had gone questing to find out why his Force-sensitivity had suddenly and mysteriously vanished, and was shocked to find he had given up the quest and took up a life of crime.

He was the only one she could think of that knew what her mask looked like, and resented her for even breathing. If anyone would want to turn her in, it would be him. And if he told them her true name along with a description. Then, she would be truly in danger. For she knew that there would be no possible way for her to go anywhere without someone being able to identify her.

Things just seemed to be getting worse and worse for her.

(^)

Kade groaned as he became conscious again. His meeting with his father had gone exactly how it always went. They talked for a short time, and Kade said something stupid. The next thing he knew he was waking up in his room with a maid treating whatever wounds he had received from the whole business.

"So, who won this time?" He asked.

"The cook. At ten minutes and forty-seven seconds."

"Must be getting sloppy," Kade stretched as he sat up. "Wasn't last time only about five minutes?"

"Yes. Yes, it was."

"And didn't you win?"

"Yes," the maid nodded with a bashful grin on her face. "Oh, there is a message for you on your comlink. We managed to keep it from your father when it went off, but I think he suspects."

"Suspects what? There is nothing on there I have to hide."

"Not even a certain young woman telling you she and her friend will be here on Couroscant for the celebrations?"

"What?" Kade jumped out of bed and grabbed the comlink. He watched the message and understood why the staff had decided to try and keep it secret. Quinlan was talking in such a casual manner, his father probably wouldn't help but get the feeling that this was a love interest of Kade's. And that would truly be a disaster for Quinlan's career as an Imperial troop. "Thank-you for not letting him see this. I can barely imagine all the trouble that would come of it."

The maid nodded knowingly as she left the room. Kade shook his head and grabbed one of his fresh shirts and got ready for what was going to be an interesting evening. For tonight was the beginning of the Emperor's celebrations, even if they didn't officially begin for another four days. And that meant he had to socialize with all the air headed ladies of the court. Absolute fun! Not!

Now he wasn't going to be able to just dance with Anna and leave it at that. As long as she had been single, it had been probable to everyone that he might ask Anna to be his bride. But now, she was engaged and every family with a young, eligible lady would be trying to introduce him to them in hopes he would find them attractive.

It was at times like these when he wished he could get up the nerve to make up some imaginary fiancé on a far off planet that no one had ever heard of before. That would keep them at bay for a little while at least. Buy him more time to make it absolutely certain he was not going to be taking a wife anytime soon.

"Like anyone would truly believe that," Kade combed back his dark brown hair. "It is a universal fact that I will never stop looking for a wife until I find one."

He finished preparing himself for the banquet, and then headed down to the hall. He immediately noticed the servant at the door and knew he was late. He didn't let his annoyance show as he walked up to the door and reached for the handle.

"How late am I?" He asked as he took his hand away from the handle and straightened his jacket.

"The Emperor has not made his appearance yet, though, the Ranes have already arrived."

"Yes. But they aren't the ones who are going to want to have words with me after the entire shindig is over."

The servant nodded and opened the door for Kade. As soon as he stepped in the room he noticed the eyes of over half the people there turning to look at him. He ignored the people around him and walked with confidence over to the throne where he was to wait until his father arrived.

He noticed many of the young woman glancing over at him and turning back to their friends giggling as if they were doing something naughty. But, then again, who knows what goes on in a woman's mind or what they talked about when they thought no one was listening. Kade nearly shook himself when he began thinking along those lines. He had recently found it was better to try not to understand what goes on in a females mind. He just had too look at what had happened between him and Reanna to know that.

"His royal majesty, Emperor Arkins." Kade looked over at the doors and watched his father come through them and take his own sweet time in coming over to his throne.

"Kade, my boy, aren't you going to ask one of these beautiful young ladies to dance?" The Emperor asked sitting down as everyone went back to whatever they were doing.

"Yes. I believe I will dance with Anna at least once tonight."

"Come, come, boy," Kade really didn't want to listen, but knew he had to stay until he was dismissed. "I mean one of the "eligible" young ladies. There are plenty here and you should be looking through them to find one to settle down with."

"Father, my attentions are elsewhere at the moment. And are bound to remain that way for many years to come," Kade looked out over the sea of faces with a bored expression. "If I mat be so bold as to ask that you don't bring up the subject again tonight?"

"Dance with at least one of the eligible, young ladies and I will honour your wishes." The Emperor bargained.

Kade nodded as he started searching the room for the least annoying woman he could find and noticed one standing off to the side trying to blend in with the curtain by the punch bowl. He might as well try his chances with her. She was always at these private banquets and things, but he had never seen her dance once. The worst thing she could do was turn him down, and not having to dance with a woman wasn't the worst thing that ever happened to him.

So, when he was dismissed, Kade went over to the punch bowl and _coincidently_ stood beside the young woman.

"You know," he said quietly. "I hear standing in a corner is one of the best ways to attract attention. It gives you a certain air of mystery. Would you care to dance?"

"I- Alright." The girl seemed a little shocked that someone was actually talking to her.

"Forgive me for my abruptness," Kade said as they started gliding across the dance floor. "I am not used to dealing with ladies of the court as many believe I do. And I should also warn you that I was put up to this by my father. My intentions are only to dance with a young eligible lady to appease my father."

"I think I got that from your conversation with the Emperor. And I think it is only fair to tell you right now that I am deaf and can read lips," the girl smiled as she looked up at him from under dark lashes. "I was watching your conversation and couldn't help but notice you didn't look so eager to ask anyone to dance. May I inquire as to why? I'm sure you would have many willing partners."

"I do not like to give false hope to the poor young ladies," Kade said noticing all the envious glances that were being sent towards them. "I am perfectly content as I am now, and I don't truly wish to marry a young woman only to leave her here for months on end while I'm off on some escapade my father has managed to think up. It wouldn't be fair to her."

"Smart man," the girl smiled. "So you go dance with the only woman in the room that isn't making eyes at you," Kade opened his mouth to object but she beat him in speaking. "Don't worry. Nobody really ever asks me to dance anyways. They all don't like that fact that I am deaf. So, I make myself content to stay in the corner watching everyone else dance."

"No one will dance with you?"

"They all prefer to dance with woman that can actually hear their flirtatious complements and not just read their misguided intentions."

"Well, then. I do not wish to fall prey to all the annoying fortune hunters, and you seem to like dancing," Kade decided to make his father extra happy. "Why don't we keep each other company throughout the rest of the evening?"

"I'd love to," the girl beamed. "For starters, why don't we exchange names. I know yours, but you haven't been here long enough to know mine. I'm Lizzy. Lizzy Turner. I'm the daughter of one of the many senators. I'm nineteen and will be twenty in three weeks."

"As you know, I am Kade Arkins. Son of the Emperor. My age is a mystery, even to my closest friend. The only one, other than me, who knows it, is my father."

"I have studied at the University of the Arts for three years to become a professional artist," Lizzy continued. "My father would much rather I be a lawyer, but he is very supportive of my decision to study art."

"I have been in the military since I was eleven," Kade remembered having the exact same conversation with Reanna at some point. "I am commander of the entire army at the moment and I am a Force-user on the side."

The rest of Kade's evening was spent with Lizzy. He found her to be a very kind and gentle soul. She listened, or watched, intently to everything he said and was very open about her life. It was nice change from fighting with Reanna all the time.

* * *

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Please R&R!


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